THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 


THE  PREVALENT  AND  TRUE  THEORY  EXAMINED. 


BY  F.  W.  CONRAD,  D.  D. 


/.  i  I  '  1  ^ 

^  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  ^ 


.l.:^ralf  ti  the  ministry 


THE 


JUL  11 1912 


CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY 


THE  PREVALENT  AND  TRUE  THEORIES  EXAMINED 


BV  F.  W.  CONRAD,  D.  D. 


[from  the  LUTHERAN  QUARTERLY,  OCTOBER,  1 883.] 


i^I 


GETTYSBURG : 

J.  E.  WIBLE,  STEAM  PRINTER,  CARLISLE  STREET  (SECOND  SQUARE). 

188.^ 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 


Jesus  Christ  represented  the  world  under  the  similitude  of  a 
^reat  field,  in  which  a  spiritual  harvest  is  growing,  wide  in  ex- 
tent, priceless  in  value,  ripe  for  the  sickle,  and  ready  to  perish. 
The  ability  and  willingness  of  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  to  send 
laborers  into  this  harvest,  and  the  duty  of  the  Church  to  pray 
to  him  to  call  an  adequate  number  to  gather  it,  as  well  as  to 
make  the  necessary  efforts  to  induce  those  thus  called  to  devote 
their  lives  to  it,  are  both  declared  and  enjoined  in  the  word  of 
God.  Notwithstanding  this,  the  disproportion  between  the  num- 
ber of  the  laborers  and  the  extent  of  the  harvest  has  continued 
for  ages,  and  the  moral  results  have  proven  most  disastrous  to 
mankind.  Because  the  laborers  were  too  few,  much  of  the  har- 
vest of  the  world-field  perished  during  the  past ;  because  their 
number  is  still  inadequate,  vast  proportions  of  it  are  perishing 
now ;  and  if  no  remedy  has  been  devised  and  can  be  applied, 
the  full  harvest  can  never  be  gathered  into  the  garner  of  heaven. 

The  questions  accordingly  arise :  Must  the  laborers  always  be 
too  few,  and  much  of  the  harvest  continue  to  perish  ?  Has  the 
Lord  of  the  harvest  been  unwilling  to  call  an  adequate  number 
of  laborers,  or  has  the  Church  entertained  erroneous  views  con- 
cerning the  call  to  the  ministry,  and  failed  to  make  the  neces- 
sary efforts  to  induce  those  called  to  enter  her  service  ?  To  us 
it  is  manifest  that  the  latter,  and  not  the  former,  is  the  true 
cause  of  the  inadequacy  of  the  number  of  ministers  to  preach 
the  Gospel  according  to  the  great  commission  of  Christ  to  every 
creature.  This  we  hope  to  establish  by  an  examination  of  the 
prevalent  and  true  theories  concerning  the  call  to  the  ministry. 

THE  PREVALENT  THEORY  STATED  AND  FOUND  WANTING. 

A  theory  embraces  certain  ideas,  which  operate  as  govering 
principles  in  practice.  The  ideas  generally  entertained  concern- 
ing the  call  to  the  ministry,  consequently,  constitute  the  theory 


4  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

and  influence  the  practice  of  the  Church.  According  to  the 
prevalent  theory  it  is  held  that  a  call  to  the  ministry  emanates 
directly  from  God  ;  that  it  is  addressed  to  particular  individu- 
als ;  that  the  conviction  of  their  call  is  impressed  upon  their 
minds  in  an  extraordinary  manner,  through  the  immediate  influ- 
ence of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  that  these  will  be  introduced  into  the 
ministry  by  the  grace  and  providence  of  God  ;  that  those  called 
are  either  in  the  ministry  or  else  in  a  course  of  preparation  for 
it ;  that  few  if  any  who  have  devoted  themselves  to  other  voca- 
tions and  professions,  were  called  to  the  ministry  ;  that  the  num- 
ber thus  called  is  entirely  inadequate  to  preach  the  unsearcha- 
ble riches  of  Christ  to  the  poor  and  famishing  millions  of  the 
world;  and  that,  however  much  the  Church  may  regret  this  de- 
ficiency and  mourn  over  the  consequent  ruin  of  souls,  she  is 
neither  responsible  for,  nor  able  to  remedy  it. 

As  theory  determines  the  practice  of  the  Church,  so,  too,  does 
her  practice  reveal  her  theory.  Holding  the  views  concerning 
the  call  to  the  ministry  just  expressed,  and  impressed  by  the 
danger  of  introducing  uncalled  men  into  the  sacred  ofifice,  she 
has  not  felt  the  weight  of  responsibility  resting  upon  her ;  and 
deeming  it  best  to  withhold  her  hand  from  the  subject,  she  has, 
to  a  great  extent  left  the  supply  of  ministers  to  the  judgment 
of  individuals,  influenced  by  their  own  impulses  and  convictions 
of  duty,  believed  to  have  been  produced  by  the  internal  work- 
ing of  the  Spirit,  and  corroborated  by  the  external  leadings  of 
the  providence  of  God.  That  this  theory  is  erroneous,  we 
trust  will  be  demonstrated  by  a  due  consideration  of  the  follow- 
ing arguments. 

I.  Because  it  is  unreasonable.  It  is  unreasonable  to  expect 
the  attainment  of  an  end  without  making  ample  provision  of 
the  means  adapted  to  attain  it.  A  husbandman  who  has  a  thou- 
sand acres  of  wheat  to  harvest,  cannot  reasonably  expect  to 
gather  it  if  he  be  unwilling  to  employ  the  number  of  men  in- 
dispensably  necessary  to  accomplish  it.  The  moral  harvest  rip- 
ening in  the  world-field  will  not  gather  itself;  it  cannot  be  gath- 
ered without  an  adequate  number  of  laborers  ;  and,  hence,  if  the 
Lord  of  the  harvest  has  failed  to  call  them,  as  the  theory  we  are 
combating  presupposes,  he  cannot  expect  that  it  shall  be  gath- 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  5 

ered.  But  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  does  expect  that  it  shall  be 
gathered,  imposes  the  obligation  upon  the  Church  to  do  all  that 
is  necessary  to  save  it,  and  reveals  the  period  when  it  will  have 
been  accomplished.  But  if  the  theory  under  consideration  were 
true,  that  an  inadequate  number  of  men  are  called  into  the  min- 
istry, then  the  duty  imposed  upon  the  Church  to  preach  the 
Gospel  to  every  creature,  cannot  be  performed,  and,  humanly 
speaking,  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  can  never  become  the 
kingdoms  of  the  Lord  and  his  Christ. 

2.  Because  it  is  inconsistent  with  the  adequacy  of  all  the  other 
provisions  of  redemption.  Man  is  guilty,  and  needs  pardon. 
Provision  is  made  to  secure  it  through  the  atonement  of  Christ, 
who,  by  tasting  death  for  every  man,  became  the  propitiation 
for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world.  Man  is  depraved,  and  needs 
the  sanctification  of  his  nature.  Redemption  makes  provision 
for  this,  through  the  transforming  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
whom  God  has  poured  out  upon  all  flesh,  and  promised  to  give 
to  every  one  that  asketh  him.  To  reveal  to  man  the  atonement, 
and  to  regenerate  his  heart,  the  Gospel  is  indispensable ;  and 
God  has  commanded  his  ministers  to  preach  it  to  every  creature, 
and  given  the  assurance  that  it  would  prove  the  wisdom  and 
power  of  God  unto  salvation.  But  as  the  Christian  ministry 
constitutes  an  essential  part  of  the  provisions  of  redemption, 
and  as  all  the  provisions  just  mentioned  are  characterized  by 
universality,  that  pertaining  to  the  ministry  must  correspond 
with  them  in  this  respect,  involving  the  call  of  an  adequate 
number  of  ministers  to  proclaim  the  Gospel  to  all  nations. 

3.  Because  it  limits  all  the  provisions  of  redemption  by  the 
measure  of  the  inadequate  part.  The  strength  of  a  chain,  ca- 
pable of  raising  a  thousand  pounds,  is  limited  by  a  single  link 
adequate  to  bear  only  a  hundred  pounds.  An  adequate  supply 
of  medicinal  remedies  is  limited,  in  its  saving  efficacy,  by  the 
number  of  physicians  engaged  in  applying  it  to  the  diseased. 
In  like  manner,  will  the  adequacy  of  all  the  essential  provisions 
of  redemption  be  limited  by  the  degree  of  inadequacy  attaching 
to  the  deficient  part.  Just  in  proportion,  therefore,  as  the  num- 
ber of  those  called  to  the  ministry  is  reduced,  and  rendered  in- 
adequate to  make  Christ  and  his  salvation  known  to  all  men,  in 


6  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

that  proportion  are  all  the  associated  provisions  of  redemption, 
the  atonement,  the  influence  of  the  Spirit,  and  quickening  power 
of  the  Gospel,  limited  in  their  saving  efficacy.  But  as  such  a 
deficiency  in  the  number  of  the  ministers  called,  and  the  conse- 
quent limitation  of  the  provisions  of  redemption,  involves  the 
perfection  of  the  plan  of  salvation,  the  consistency  of  its  parts, 
as  well  as  the  wisdom  and  mercy  of  God,  it  cannot  possibly  be 
true. 

4.  Because  it  throws  the  responsibility  of  the  inadequacy  of 
the  number  of  the  ministry  and  consequent  loss  of  the  harvest 
upon  the  Lord  of  glory.  The  value  of  a  single  soul  transcends 
all  human  calculation.  Its  ruin  constitutes  the  greatest  calam- 
ity of  the  moral  universe — its  salvation,  the  greatest  achieve- 
ment of  redemption.  An  adequate  number  of  ministers  is  in- 
dispensable to  save  the  moral  harvest ;  and  if  the  Lord  of  the 
harvest  be  unwilling  to  call  them  to  the  work  of  gathering  it, 
and  in  consequence  thereof  any  portion  of  it  perish,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  discern  how  the  responsibility  of  such  loss  can  be  re- 
moved from  him.  But  as  his  perfection  forbids  such  a  suppos- 
ition and  as  he  himself  challenges  the  universe  to  lay  the  re- 
sponsibility of  the  loss  of  mankind  upon  him,  by  the  interrog- 
atory :  "What  could  I  have  done  unto  my  vineyard,  that  I 
have  not  done  unto  it  ?"  the  theory  that  involves  it  must  be 
false. 

5.  Because  it  is  unscriptural.  An  induction,  in  order  to  es- 
tablish its  truthfulness,  must  include  all  the  facts  pertaining  to 
it ;  and  just  in  proportion  as  the  number  of  facts  increases  that 
cannot  be  interpreted  by  it,  will  the  probabilities  be  strength- 
ened that  it  is  not  founded  upon  a  scientific  basis.  An  hypoth- 
esis that  can  produce  no  facts  to  sustain  it,  is  utterly  false.  And 
the  same  tests  must  be  called  into  requisition  in  determining  re- 
ligious questions.  Let  us  apply  them  to  the  theory  under  con- 
sideration. Not  a  single  example  can  be  cited  from  the  Scrip- 
tures where  a  person  presented  himself,  either  to  the  apostles, 
or  to  a  congregation,  as  one  called  by  the  Lord  of  the  harvest, 
as  a  laborer  (minister),  on  the  ground  that  he  possessed  the  nat- 
ural and  spiritual  qualifications  fitting  him  for  che  work,  and 
that  he  had  been  brought  to  this  conclusion  by  an  internal  call 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  7 

from  the  Holy  Spirit.     Nor  can  a  case  be  adduced  where  such 
an  apphcant  was  accredited  by  the  apostles,  and  accepted  or 
chosen  by  any  Christian  congregation.     The  case  of  Isaiah  (vi 
8),  who,  in  answer  to  the  questions  put  to  him  by  the  Lord  of 
glory,  -Whom  shall  we  send  ?_and  who  will  go  for  us  >"  said  • 
"Here  am  I.  send  me,"  is  ruled  out  by  the  fact  that  he  was  not 
on  this  wise  called  to  the  prophetic  office,  but  to  some  special 
work  as  an  accredited  messenger  of  God;  and  the  declaration 
of  the  Son  to  the  Father,  "Lo  I  come,   in   the   volume   of  the 
BoQk  It  is  written  of  me,  to  do  thy  will,  O  God !"  cannot  be  le- 
gitimately appropriated  in  bolstering  up  such  pretensions      Al- 
though the  head  and  exemplar  of  the  ministry,  and  although 
conscious,  even  from  his  childhood,  that  he  was  called  by  the 
Father  to  be  the  Prophet  of  God,  like  unto  Moses,  and  the  Min- 
ister  of  the  New  Covenant,  yet  did  he  not  assume  this  office  un- 
til he  was  designated  as  such  by  the  baptism  of  John,  the  visi- 
ble descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  audible  voice  of  God 
"This  IS  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased  "     A  the- 
ory left   unsupported   by  a   single   relevant   example   must   be 
purely  hypothetical,  and  prove  both  delusive  and  inadequate  to 
supply  the  Church  with  a   sufficient   number  of  well  qualified 
and  duly  called  and  accredited  ministers  of  Christ. 

6.  Because  the  scripture  passages  and  precedents  appealed  to 
to  sustain  it  are  misunderstood  and  misinterpreted.  Moses  and 
the  prophets  were  directly  called  by  God,  and  the  apostles  and 
evangelists  by  Christ  in  a  similar  manner.  They  were  inspired 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,  endowed  with  the  gift  of  tongues,  and  in- 
vested  with  miraculous  powers,  as  attestations  of  their  divine 
appointment.  But  the  immediate  call  of  prophets  ceased  with 
Malachi,  and  that  of  apostles,  with  Paul,  and  ministers  are  now 
called  into  the  sacred  office,  mediately  through  the  Church 
The  extraordinary  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  involving  di- 
rect inspiration,  and  the  power  to  perform  miracles,  have  also 
ceased,  and  all  revelations  of  the  divine  will,  and  all  communi- 
cations of  religious  truth,  are  now  made  through  the  written 
word,  and  the  ordinary  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  involving 
a  conviction  of  a  call  to  the  ministry,  a  knowledge  of  havin- 
passed  from  death  unto  life,  and  spiritual  assistance  in  the  exert 


8  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

cise  of  prayer  and  preaching  the  Gospel.  The  Anabaptists  and 
other  enthusiasts  that  arose  in  the  Reformation,  perverted  the 
passages  and  precedents  of  Scripture,  referring  to  the  immedi- 
ate call  of  prophets  and  apostles,  and  their  inspiration,  and 
claimed  that  they  were  called  to  the  ministry  in  the  same  man- 
ner, and  endowed  with  the  extraordinary  influences  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  superceding  the  necessity  of  education,  premeditation 
and  study,  in  prayer  and  preaching.  The  following  quotations 
from  Luther  and  Melanchthon,  exhibit  the  fanatical  pretensions 
of  these  "heavenly  prophets"  as  they  were  styled  in  derision. 

Melanchthon  on  the  Zwickau  fanatics  to  the  elector  of  Sax- 
ony :  "I  have  heard  them.  It  is  wonderful  what  they  proclaim 
concerning  themselves,  viz,  that  they  have  been  sent  to  teach 
by  the  clear  voice  of  God,  that  they  have  had  familiar  conver- 
sations with  God,  that  they  see  future  things ;  briefly,  that  they 
are  prophetical  and  apostolic  men.  How  I  am  moved  by  this, 
T  cannot  easily  say.  For  important  reasons,  I  am  inclined  not 
to  despise  them ;  for  that  some  spiritual  beings  \_quosdam  spir- 
itiis\  are  in  them,  is  apparent  by  many  proofs,  but  no  one  can 
readily  judge  thereof  except  Martin."  Concerning  this  mat- 
ter Luther  writes  to  Melanchthon  :  "I  do  not  approve  of  your 
timidity,  since  you  excel  me  both  in  spirit  and  learning.  In 
the  first  place,  when  they  give  testimony  concerning  themselves 
they  are  not  to  be  at  once  heard,  but,  according  to  the  advice 
of  St.  John,  the  spirits  are  to  be  proved.  You  have,  too,  the 
advice  of  Gamaliel  to  differ ;  for  so  far  nothing  has  been  said  or 
done  by  them  which  I  have  heard,  that  Satan  cannot  do  or 
imitate.  Do  you  then  for  me,  try  if  they  can  prove  their  call. 
For  God  never  has  sent  any  one,  unless  called  by  man,  or  with 
his  call  attested  by  signs — not  even  his  own  Son.  Formerly 
the  prophets  derived  their  authority  from  the  prophetical  law 
and  order,  just  as  we  now  through  men.  I  am  entirely  opposed 
to  their  reception,  if  they  proclaim  that  they  have  been  called 
by  a  revelation  alone,  since  God  was  unwilling  to  call  Samuel 
except  with  the  authority  of  Eli  attesting  it.  So  far  as  to  the 
public  function  of  teaching. 

Test  also  their  private  spirit.  Examine  whether  they  have 
experienced  those  spiritual  sorrows,  and  divine  pains  of  birth. 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  g 

deaths  and  hells.  If  you  hear  them  proclaiming  bland,  mild, 
devout  and  pious  things,  even  though  they  say  they  have  been 
carried  up  to  the  third  heaven,  do  not  approve  them.  For  the 
sign  of  the  Son  of  Man  is  wanting,  which  is  the  only  test  of 
Christians,  and  the  sure  discerner  of  spirits.  Would  you  know 
the  place,  time  and  mode  of  divine  conversations  ?  Try  them, 
and  do  not  listen  even  to  Jesus  when  he  boasts,  unless  you  first 
see  him  crucified." 

Concerning  a  conference  between  Luther  and  Melanchthon, 
Mark  Stubner  and  Cellarius  at  Wittenberg,  Camerarius  says : 

"Luther  very  camly  heard  Mark  narrating  his  claims.  When 
he  had  ended,  Luther  thinking  there  should  be  no  discussion 
against  such  absurd  and  futile  pretensions,  gave  them  this  ad- 
vice :  They  should  consider  what  they  were  doing.  That  none 
of  the  things  that  they  mentioned  were  supported  by  Holy 
Scripture,  and  that  they  were  either  the  invention  of  curious 
thoughts,  or  the  insane  and  pernicious  representations  of  a  lying 
and  deceitful  spirit.  Cellarius,  with  frantic  voice  and  gestures, 
stamping  the  floor  with  his  feet,  and  striking  the  table  with  his 
hands,  exclaimed  that  it  was  an  outrage  for  Luther  to  presume 
to  have  any  such  suspicions  concerning  a  divine  man.  But 
Mark  said  more  calmly:  'That  you  may  know,  Luther,  that  I 
am  furnished  with  the  Spirit  of  God,  I  will  tell  you  what  you 
are  thinking  about.  It  is  this:  You  are  beginning  to  be  in- 
clined to  believe  that  my  doctrine  is  true.'  Whereupon  Luther 
replied:  'May  the  Lord  rebuke  thee,  O  Satan.'  After  this, 
Luther  thought  he  should  have  no  more  words  with  them,  and 
dismissed  them.* 

The  early  Puritans  and  Quakers  fell  into  similar  errors,  and 
set  up  similar  pretensions,  in  regard  to  the  immediate  call  and 
direct  revelations  from  the  Spirit. 

In  corroboration  of  this  we  present  the  following  quotations: 
Alt  in  his  "Geschichte  des  Christlichen  Cultus"  speaks  thus  of 
the  views  of  the  English  Puritans  :  "As  a  rule,  there  was  always 
one  in  each  congregation,  who  generally  filled  the  office  of  prin- 
cipal speaker,  nevertheless  he  was  not  the  preacher  appointed 

*Seckendorf,  I.,  pp.  192,  193. 


10  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

by  the  congregation,  but  only  that  member  of  the  same  on 
whom,  above  others  the  gift  of  teaching  had  been  bestowed. 
And  when  the  Spirit  seemed  to  have  departed  from  him,  they, 
without  any  hesitation,  elected  another  in  his  place.  For  the 
prevailing  of  the  Gospel  was  not  to  be  a  matter  of  office  and 
calling,  but  a  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  preacher  became, 
in  the  Old  Testament  sense  of  the  word,  a  prophet." 

Barclay  in  his  Apology  sets  forth  the  theory  of  the  Quakers : 
"As  by  the  light  or  gift  of  God,  all  true  knowledge  in  things 
spiritual  is  received  and  revealed,  so  by  the  sanie,  as  it  is 
manifested  and  received  in  the  heart,  by  the  strength  and  power 
thereof,  every  true  minister  of  the  Gospel  is  ordained,  prepared 
and  supplied  in  the  work  of  the  ministry.  *  *  Moreover,  they 
who  have  this  authority  may  and  ought  to  preach  the  Gospel, 
though  without  human  commission  or  literature."  Further,  Bar- 
clay says  that  this  light  or  gift  of  God  is  of  such  a  nature  "that 
these  divine  revelations  are  not  to  be  subjected  to  the  test,  either 
of  the  outward  testimony  of  the  Scriptures  or  the  natural  rea- 
son of  man,  as  to  a  more  noble  or  certain  rule  or  touchstone ; 
for  this  divine  revelation  and  inward  illumination  is  that  which 
is  evident  and  clear  of  itself"* 

Although  most  of  those  who  hold  the  prevalent  theory  of  a 
call  to  the  ministry  discard  the  extremes  into  which  the  Ana- 
baptists, the  English  Puritans  and  the  Quakers  were  led,  never- 
theless, in  so  far  as  they  deny  that  the  conviction  of  a  call  to 
the  ministry  is  called  forth  according  to  the  laws  of  the  human 
mind,  as  affected  by  the  truths  revealed  in  the  Scriptures,  under 
the  ordinary  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  maintain  that  it 
originates  in  some  impulse,  impression,  or  intimation  wrought 
by  the  direct  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  they  occupy  substan- 
tially the  same  ground  on  which  all  the  other  extravagant  pre- 
tensions of  the  enthusiasts  and  mystics  are  predicated. 

THE  TRUE  THEORY  STATED. 

The  constitutional  endowments,  spiritual  gifts,  and  voluntary 
exercises,  that  enter  into  the  constitution  of  a  call  to  the  min- 
istry are  the  following  :  Such  natural  talents  as  would,  if  properly 

*Schwenkfeldt,  Bohme,  and  most  of  the  mystics  entertained  similar  views. 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  1 1 

cultivated,  qualify  the  individual  for  the  successful  prosecution 
of  the  work  of  the  ministry.  Such  measures  of  saving  faith  and 
divine  grace  as  would  render  him  a  "workman  that  needeth  not 
to  be  ashamed"  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  Such  views  of  the  true 
object  of  life,  namely,  to  glorify  God  by  doing  good,  as  to  in- 
duce him  to  devote  himself  to  its  attainment.  Such  a  convic- 
tion that  in  the  ministry  he  could  do  the  most  good  to  his  fel- 
low men,  and  glorify  God  in  the  highest  degree,  as  would  bind 
the  conscience,  and  impose  the  obligation  to  choose  it  as  a  pro- 
fession, and  induce  the  formation  of  a  governing  purpose  to 
prepare  for  and  enter  it.  Such  a  knowledge  of  the  work  of  the 
ministry  itself,  and  of  the  character  and  service  of  the  church  in 
which  he  expects  to  prosecute  it,  as  will  render  it  both  interest- 
ing and  attractive  to  him,  and  impel  him  to  persevere  in  the 
prosecution  of  his  course  of  preparation  unto  the  end,  notwith- 
standing the  honors  and  emoluments  held  out  to  him  by  the 
world,  and  in  spite  of  any  providential  obstacles  that  might 
stand  in  his  way. 

This  call  is  not  miraculous  but  rational,  not  extraordinary 
but  ordinary,  not  immediate  but  mediate.  It  is  not  communi- 
cated in  an  arbitrary,  but  in  a  natural  manner.  The  conviction 
of  its  existence  is  not  found  in  any  notion  or  impulse,  impression 
or  desire,  that  may  have  at  a  certain  time  originated,  been  felt, 
or  repeated  in  some  peculiar  manner,  nor  by  any  special  indica- 
tions of  Providence,  but  brought  about  according  to  the  natural 
laws  governing  the  exercises  of  the  mind.  Neither  is  it  called 
forth  by  any  special  revelation  of  some  particular  truth,  nor  by 
any  inward  voice  or  immediate  assurance  given  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  but  through  the  instructions  contained  in  the  Sacred 
Scriptures,  apprehended  and  received  through  the  ordinary  in- 
fluences of  the  Spirit  of  God. 

The  natural  talents  and  spiritual  graces,  as  constituent  ele- 
ments of  the  ministerial  vocation,  are  all  capable  of  develop- 
ment. In  order  that  the  conviction  of  a  call  to  the  ministry 
may  arise  in  consciousness,  they  must  be  brought  into  volun- 
tary and  consistent  exercise — in  other  words,  rationally  and 
spiritually  cultivated.  They  cannot  develop  themselves.  If  not 
brought   under  the  influence  of  their  appropriate  means,  they 


12  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

will  remain  dormant.  Tf  neglected,  and  left  to  develop  them- 
selves spontaneously,  without  mental  culture  and  religious  train- 
ing, the  result  would  be  abnormal,  irrational,  and  fanatical. 
Their  cultivation  cannot,  therefore,  be  safely  left  to  chance,  ca- 
price or  hap-hazard,  but  must  be  accomplished  by  intelligent 
and  persevering  effort.  Take  natural  talents — how  can  these 
be  cultivated  without  schools,  colleges  and  seminaries?  True 
piety — how  can  this  be  attained  without  the  diligent-use  of  the 
means  of  grace  ?  The  true  object  of  life — how  can  correct 
views  concerning  it  be  imparted  without  special  instruction  ? 
The  conviction  that  in  the  ministry  highest  usefulness  could  be 
attained  and  God  glorified — how  can  that  be  called  forth,  with- 
out an  adequate  knowledge  of  its  nature,  requirements,  adapta- 
tions and  usefulness?  The  attractiveness  of  the  work  and  ser- 
vice of  the  Church  which  calls  him  to  enter  the  ranks  of  her 
ministry — how  can  these  be  exhibited  without  portraying  the 
divine  origin,  the  special  mission,  and  the  glorious  consumma- 
tion, designed  to  be  accomplished  by  the  Church  of  Christ,  and 
without  an  acquaintance  with  the  history,  distinguishing  charac- 
teristics, achievements  and  field  of  usefulness  offered  him  by  the 
Church  to  whose  ministry  he  proposes  to  devote  his  life? 

In  giving,  developing  and  responding  to  a  call  to  the  min- 
istry, three  parties  are  specially  interested — God,  the  person 
called,  and  the  Church.  God,  through  creation,  confers  the 
necessary  natural  talents ;  through  his  Son  he  redeems  the  can- 
didate, through  the  Scriptures  commands  him  to  believe  in 
Christ,  to  consecrate  himself  to  the  service  of  God,  and  to  glo- 
rify him  in  eating,  in  drinking,  and  in  all  other  things;  through 
the  Holy  Spirit  he  works  faith,  renews  and  sheds  abroad  the 
love  of  God  and  man  in  the  heart,  leads  him  into  the  kingdom 
of  God,  induces  him  to  choose  the  ministry,  and  to  devote  his 
life  to  winning  souls.  Through  Providence  he  preserves  his 
health  and  life,  directs  him  to  suitable  fields  of  labor,  and  opens 
to  him  doors  of  usefulness.  The  Church  must  call  into  requisi- 
tion all  the  agencies  and  instrumentalities,  and  put  forth  all  the 
efforts,  required  to  develop  the  talents  and  graces  conferred, 
that  it  may  become  manifest  to  her,  that  this  and  that  young 
man,  found  in  her  families,  congregations,  schools  and  colleges, 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  I  3 

possesses  the  necessary,  natural,  spiritual  and  acquired  attain- 
ments to  qualify  him  for  the  ministry  and  by  her  counsels,  in- 
structions and  prayers,  render  him  such  assistance  as  will  enable 
him  to  form  an  intelli^^ent  judgment  that  he  is  called  to  the 
ministry.  And  the  candidate  must  so  appreciate  the  instruc- 
tions and  heed  the  advice  of  the  Church,  as  to  respond  to  her 
call  for  laborers  and  enter  her  service  as  an  ambassador  of  Christ. 

OF  THE  CHURCH  CALLING  HER  ELECT  SONS  INTO  THE  MINISTRY. 

God  having  conferred  the  natural  talents  and  spiritual  gifts 
adapted  to  qualify  many  of  the  sons  of  the  Church  for  the  office 
of  the  ministry,  it  becomes  her  bounden  duty  to  call  them  out  and 
employ  them  in  her  service.  Among  the  agencies  and  institu- 
tions through  which  she  is  to  supply  herself  with  an  adequate 
number  of  well-qualified  ministers,  we  mention — 

I.  The  Family.  God  instituted  marriage,  and  founded  the 
family  as  the  home  of  childhood,  the  guardian  of  youth,  and  the 
nursery  of  the  ministry.  In  order  to  attain  this  exalted  end,  it 
is  manifest  that  the  family  must  be  constituted  according  to  the 
Christian  ideal.  The  parents  should  be  intelligent  and  pious — 
should  consecrate  their  children  to  God  in  holy  baptism,  that 
the  blessings  of  the  covenant  of  grace  may  be  sealed  unto  them 
— and  recognize  him  at  the  domestic  altar.  They  should  bring 
them  under  the  constant  influence  of  Christian  nurture,  involv- 
ing religious  instruction,  faithful  discipline,  and  a  consistent 
example,  that  they  may  become  wise  unto  salvation  through 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  They  should  keep  constantly  before  the 
minds  of  their  children  the  ultimate  end  of  life,  to  glorify  God, 
and  make  w-ell-directed  efforts  to  induce  them  to  devote  them- 
selves to  its  attainment  by  cultivating  excellency  of  character 
and  doing  good.  They  should  give  special  heed  to  the  consti- 
tutional peculiarities,  disposition,  bent  of  mind,  tastes,  or  genius, 
adapting  them  for  some  particular  trade,  profession  or  business, 
and  give  them  timely  counsel  in  choosing  an  honorable  and 
useful  calling,  as  well  as  afford  them  the  necessary  facilities  to 
prepare  them  to  engage  in  it.  They  should  consider  the  claims 
of  the  ministry  as  a  profession  affording  opportunities  of  high- 
est usefulness  and  possessing  corresponding  attractions,  recog- 


14  *  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

nize  the  probability  that  one  or  more  of  their  sons  may  possess 
the  requisite  talents  and  graces  to  fit  him  or  them  for  its  prose- 
cution, and  endeavor  by  advice,  instruction  and  assistance,  to 
lead  them  to  devote  their  lives  to  the  glorious  work  of  saving 
souls. 

2.  The  Congregation.  The  Christian  congregation,  as  a  su- 
pernatural organism,  is  the  legitimate  outgrowth  of  the  family, 
and  becomes  its  indispensable  auxiliary  in  calling  forth  minis- 
ters. Provision  should,  therefore,  be  made  by  every  congrega- 
tion to  furnish  a  due  proportion  of  candidates  for  the  ministry. 
Sunday  or  parochial  schools,  or  both,  should  be  established,  in 
which  the  religious  training  begun  in  the  family  may  be  carried 
forward  in  forms  adapted  to  the  growth  and  mental  develop- 
ment of  youth.  Catechetical  instruction  should  be  maintained, 
every  pastor  diligently  prosecute  it,  and  every  baptized  child 
brought  by  parental  authority  under  its  moulding  and  indoctri- 
nating influence.  It  should  be  taken  for  granted  that  there  are 
some  young  men  in  every  congregation,  who  possess  the  natural 
and  spiritual  endowments  constituting  the  marks  of  a  call  to 
the  ministry  ;  and  Sunday-school  teachers  and  officers,  elders 
and  deacons,  pastors  and  church  members,  should  regard  it 
their  duty  to  look  after  talented,  pious  young  men,  call  their 
attention  to  the  claims  of  the  ministry,  and  in  all  rational  and 
scriptural  ways  endeavor  to  convince  them  that  the  Master  has 
need  of  them,  and  calls  them  to  labor  in  his  vineyard.  The  call 
to  and  the  supply  of  the  ministry  should  constitute  subjects  for 
occasional  discussion  in  the  pulpit ;  regular  and  liberal  contri- 
butions should  be  made  to  beneficiary  education,  and  the  prayer: 
•'Lord,  send  forth  laborers  into  thy  harvest,"  should  find  frequent 
utterance  from  every  Christian  lip,  in  the  closet  and  at  the  family 
altar,  no  less  than  in  meetings  for  social  prayer,  and  in  the  sup- 
plications of  the  great  congregation  engaged  in  public  worship, 
3.  The  School.  As  education  consists  in  cultivating  all  the 
intellectual  and  moral  faculties  of  the  soul  in  due  proportion,  all 
schools  designed  to  impart  it  must  adopt  such  a  course  of  in- 
struction as  will  be  adapted  to  the  attainment  of  the  ultimate 
end  of  education,  which  is  character.  Every  school,  whether 
popular  or  academic,  that  discards  moral  and  religious  instruc- 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  I  5 

tion,  cannot  be  adapted  to  the  training  of  the  sons  of  the  Church, 
among  whom  she  must  look  for  her  candidates  for  the  ministry. 

The  American  system  of  popular  education  is  acknovvledgedly 
characterized  by  many  excellencies.  Its  greatest  deficiency  is 
found  in  its  want  of  adequate  religious  instruction.  In  a  great 
majority  of  our  public  schools  the  Bible  is  read,  the  Lord's 
Prayer  repeated,  and  a  general  religious  impression  made,  but 
it  cannot  be  claimed  that  this  is  all  the  moral  instruction  needed 
by  the  American  citizen,  and  much  less  than  that  which  the 
Church  should  be  satisfied  to  secure  for  the  children  she  has 
dedicated  to  God  and  covenanted  to  bring  up  in  the  nurture 
and  admonition  of  the  Lord.  From  many  public  schools,  how- 
ever, the  Bible  has  been  excluded,  and  no  religious  instruction 
whatever  is  given  to  the  pupils.  If  this  process  of  divesting 
our  public  schools  of  their  religious  character  should  continue, 
and  the  American  system  of  popular  education  become  thor- 
oughly secularized,  the  Church  cannot  safely  patronize  them  ; 
and  if  she  cannot  redeem  and  make  them  Christian,  she  will  be 
compelled  to  fall  back  on  the  parochial  system,  and  establish 
not  only  her  own  colleges  and  academies,  but  also  her  own 
parochial  schools — as  indispensable  to  the  proper  education  of 
her  sons  called  to  the  ministry. 

4.  The  College.  The  course  of  education  commenced  in  the 
parochial  or  common  school,  and  continued  in  the  academy  or 
high  school  is  completed  in  the  college,  which  becomes  one  of 
the  most  important  agencies,  not  only  in  giving  candidates  for 
the  ministry  the  necessary  literary  outfit,  but  also  in  multiply- 
ing their  number.  Most  of  their  students  are  distinguished  by 
a  thirst  for  knowledge,  and  a  due  appreciation  of  higher  educa- 
tion, and  among  them  a  considerable  proportion  are  found  pos- 
sessing the  requisite  natural  talents,  which,  if  properly  cultivated 
and  sanctified,  would  fit  them  for  the  work  of  the  ministry. 
Some  of  them,  although  dedicated  to  the  service  of  God  in  bap- 
tism, have  not  yet  voluntarily  confirmed  the  vows  made  by  their 
parents  in  their  name.  Others,  who  have  already  become  pious 
and  united  with  the  Church,  have  not  yet  chosen  a  profession 
in  which  to  prosecute  their  life  work.  The  college  accordingly 
becomes  a  nursery,  where  the  sons  of  the  Church,  as  choice 


1 6  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

household  plants,  are  set  out,  and  subjected  to  the  highest  men- 
tal and  moral  culture,  and  among  whom  the  Church  must  look 
for  the  evidences  of  a  call  to  the  ministry  and  induce  them  to 
enter  her  service. 

The  establishment  of  an  adequate  number  of  well  manned 
and  adequately  endowed  colleges,  becomes  a  necessity  to  every 
Christian  denomination  ;  and  upon  their  religious  character,  the 
bearing  of  their  pious  students,  and  the  efforts  made  by  their 
instructors,  will  depend  their  efficiency  and  usefulness  in  edu- 
cating and  multiplying  the  number  of  able  and  successful  min- 
isters of  the  Gospel.  A  high  standard  of  piety  should  be  main- 
tained by  the  professors  of  religion  in  colleges,  that  the  students 
having  the  ministry  in  view  may  be  led  to  carry  out  their  pur- 
pose to  enter  it.  Those  known  as  candidates  for  the  holy  call- 
ing should  set  such  an  example  of  Christian  consistency  in  their 
walk  and  conversation,  that  they  may  not  become  a  reproach 
and  by-word  to  the  impenitent  and  a  stumbling  block  to  pious 
students  who  have  not  yet  decided  the  question  of  a  profession 
for  life.  Ordinary,  as  well  as  special  efforts  should  be  made  by 
the  pastors  of  college  churches,  the  president  and  the  professors, 
to  bring  the  non-professing  young  men  under  their  care  to  a 
saving  knowledge  of  Christ.  The  claims  of  the  ministry  as  a 
profession,  adapted  to  the  attainment  of  greatest  usefulness, 
should  at  all  suitable  times  be  presented,  and  such  counsel  and 
instruction  given  to  those  exhibiting  the  natural  and  spiritual 
traits,  indicative  of  a  call  to  the  ministry,  as  will  enable  them  to 
come  to  an  intelligent,  conscientious,  and  satisfactory  conclusion, 
that  it  is  their  duty  to  become  ministers  of  the  Gospel. 

5.  The  Pulpit.  The  pulpit  is  made  to  stand  by  metonymy 
for  the  preacher,  the  sermon  and  everything  else  pertaining  to 
the  ministry.  As  pastors  of  congregations  and  representatives 
of  the  whole  Church,  they  are  charged  with  the  duty  of  giving 
succession  to  the  ministry,  which  requires  careful  observation, 
sound  judgment,  and  the  application  of  necessary  tests.  The 
natural  and  spiritual  qualifications  for  which  they  must  look,  as 
manifest  indications  of  a  call  to  the  ministry,  are  specifically  set 
forth  in  the  Scriptures ;  and  it  is  expressly  enjoined  upon  them 
to  exercise  proper  caution,  subject  to  adequate  trials,  and  guard 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  1/ 

against  undue  haste  in  committing  the  ministerial  office,  "by 
the  laying  on  of  hands,"  to  their  successors.  Ministers  should 
take  a  deep  interest  in  the  lambs  of  the  flock,  notice  children  in 
their  visitations,  keep  an  eye  on  the  boys  in  school  and  young 
men  in  college  ;  and  those,  in  whom  they  discover  the  natural 
and  spiritual  qualifications  adapted  to  the  prosecution  of  the 
work,  they  should  endeavor  to  convince  that  they  are  called  to 
the  office  of  the  ministry.  They  should  place  a  due  estimate 
upon  the  ministerial  profession,  make  themselves  thoroughly 
acquainted  with,  and  inculcate  correct  views  concerning  it  in 
their  conversations,  ministrations  and  writings. 

The  indirect  influence  of  the  pulpit  in  calling  forth  ministers 
is  no  less  important.  As  the  sons  of  the  Church,  elect  of  God, 
are  to  be  nurtured  in  the  family,  trained  in  the  congregation, 
and  educated  in  the  school  and  the  college,  and  as  the  manifesta- 
tions of  the  marks,  as  well  as  tne  number  and  character  of  the 
ministry,  depend  upon  the  efficiency  of  religious  training  and 
Christian  education,  it  follows  that  just  in  proportion  as  pastors 
labor  to  promote  Christian  nurture  in  the  family,  to  elevate  the 
standard  of  intelligence  and  piety  in  the  congregation,  and  to 
improve  moral  and  religious  instruction  imparted  in  popular  and 
parochial  schools,  academies  and  colleges,  in  that  proportion 
will  the  number  and  character  of  candidates  for  the  ministry  be 
increased  and  elevated.  No  greater  service  than  this  can  the 
pulpit  render  to  the  Church,  and  the  low  estimate  placed  upon 
the  ministry,  and  its  consequent  general  neglect,  must  be  set 
down  among  the  principal  causes  that  have  led  to  the  paucity 
and  inefficiency  of  ministers. 

6.  The  Press.  The  press  is  the  most  important  of  modern  in- 
ventions in  stimulating,  preserving,  and  communicating  knowl- 
edge, and  the  Church  has  wisely  availed  herself  of  its  almost 
omnipresent  influence  in  every  department  of  her  work.  She 
has  accordingly  provided  herself  with  a  religious  literature, 
priceless  in  value,  and  all-permeating  and  powerful  in  its  influ- 
ence. In  the  form  of  books,  she  has  treasured  up  and  dissem- 
inated a  permanent  and  sanctified  literature,  and  through  her 
periodicals  she  has  supplemented  and  greatly  widened  the  sphere 

Vol.  XIII.     No.  4.  75 


18  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

of  her  influence  ;  and  the  bearing  of  both  forms  of  religious  lit- 
erature upon  the  increase  of  the  number  and  the  elevation  of 
the  character  of  the  ministry,  is  very  great.  Distinct  treatises 
on  the  ministry,  the  symbolical  writings  of  her  confessors,  the 
works  of  her  theologians,  the  discourses  of  her  great  preachers, 
the  achievements  of  her  pastors  and  churches  recorded  by  her 
historians,  and  the  commentaries  of  her  expositors,  are  all  cal- 
culated to  set  forth  the  nature,  character,  qualifications,  useful- 
ness, and  claims  of  the  ministry,  and  to  exert  a  corresponding 
influence  on  all  Christians  interested  in  and  obligated  to  take 
part  in  calling  forth  candidates,  and  in  advancing  the  standard 
of  ministerial  qualifications. 

The  weekly  church  paper,  originated  in  America,  and  scarcely 
three-quarters  of  a  century  old,  has  not  only  become  an  indis- 
pensable means  of  spreading  religious  intelligence,  cultivating 
personal  piety,  fostering  the  spirit  of  liberality,  and  stimulating 
Christian  activity  in  every  department  of  church  work,  but  has 
also  proven  the  most  efficient  auxiliary  to  the  agencies  hereto- 
fore mentioned  in  calling  the  attention  of  the  churches  to  the 
deficiency  in  the  ministry,  and  in  urging  the  duty  of  making  in- 
telligent and  constant  effort  to  increase  their  number  and  im- 
prove their  character  and  efficiency.  These  important  results 
are  attained  by  the  church  paper,  through  the  publication  of 
articles  on  the  call  and  other  aspects  of  the  ministry,  reports  of 
the  contributions  made  and  the  number  of  beneficiaries  sup- 
ported by  our  synods,  the  number  of  theological  students  sus- 
tained by  their  parents,  the  proportion  among  the  young  men  in 
our  preparatory  schools  and  colleges  having  the  ministry  in 
view,  the  notices  of  licensures  and  ordinations  taking  place  at  our 
synodical  meetings,  the  destitution  in  our  own  and  the  still 
greater  destitution  in  foreign  lands,  the  calls  of  our  missionary 
boards  and  their  secretaries  for  more  men,  accounts  of  mission- 
ary meetings  at  synods  and  conventions,  reports  of  home  and 
foreign  missionaries,  as  well  as  references  to  the  writings  of  min- 
isters, and  their  addresses  and  sermons  on  special  occasions,  the 
labors  of  pastors  and  missionaries  at  home  and  abroad,  with  the 
additions  made  to  their  congregations,  reports  of  revivals  of  re- 
ligion, in  which  scores  and  even  hundreds  are  brought  to  the 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  1 9 

knowledge  of  the  truth  and  gathered  into  the  kingdom  of  God, 
together  with  such  other  articles  bearing  more  or  less  directly 
on  the  ministry,  and  such  other  items  of  Church  intelligence, 
as  are  calculated  to  foster  church  love,  religious  enterprise,  and 
Christian  benevolence,  and  referring  more  or  less  directly  to 
the  subject  and  claims  of  the  ministry.  On  this  wise,  the  church 
paper  sounds  the  call  of  Jesus  addressed  to  talented  and  pious 
young  men  :  "Son,  go  work  to-day  in  my  vineyard."  It  becomes 
an  assistant  to  parents  in  the  family  and  to  pastors  in  the  con- 
gregation, and  a  co-worker  with  the  teacher  in  the  school  and 
the  professor  in  the  college,  in  calling  forth  and  educating  an 
adequate  number  of  able  ministers  to  preach  the  gospel  to  ev- 
ery creature,  and  convert  the  world  to  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  "head 
over  all  things  to  the  church,"  "God  blessed  forever." 
The  truth  of  this  theory  may  be  argued: 

1.  From  Scriptural  Analogy.  The  ordinary  call  to  accept 
the  Gospel  embraces  the  general  call,  to  believe  in  Christ,  and 
to  go  into  his  vineyard  and  work,  as  well  as  the  special  call  to 
perform  such  a  part  of  the  work  required  as  each  one  was  spe- 
cially fitted  for.  In  this  manner  members  of  the  church  at 
Jerusalem  received  and  responded  to  the  general  gospel  call, 
but  when  the  special  work  of  distributing  alms  was  required,  a 
certain  number  of  them  received  a  specific  call  to  attend  to  it, 
the  qualifications  required  were  pointed  out  by  the  apostles,  the 
Church  directed  to  choose  them,  and  when  thus  chosen  the 
apostles  set  them  apart  to  their  work.  In  this  manner  the 
office  of  deacon  was  instituted  and  the  call  to  the  deaconship 
developed  by  the  Church.  A  special  service  of  a  similar  char- 
acter was  called  for  among  the  women,  then  secluded  from  the 
ordinary  society  of  men.  Certain  qualifications  were  required, 
those  possessing  them  were  regarded  as  called  to  engage  in  it, 
and  the  Church  appointed  them.  Thus  the  office  of  deacon- 
esses arose  and  pious  women  were  called  to  fill  it. 

2.  From  Scriptural  Precedent.  The  informing  or  governing 
idea  of  the  call  to  the  ministry,  viz,  that  of  special  fitness  for  the 
performance  of  its  duties,  runs  through  the  procedure  of  God 
in  calling  Christ,  of  Christ  in  calling  the  evangelists  and  the 
apostles,  and  of  the  apostles  in  calling  pastors,  and  other  officers 


20  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

to  the  performance  of  specific  services  in  the  Church.  God,  the 
Father,  having  determined  to  redeem  the  world,  needed  a  Re- 
deemer. Finding  the  quahfications  necessary  to  accomphsh  it 
in  his  Son,  he  called  him  to  the  work  of  redemption,  and  when 
he  communicated  the  call  to  him,  the  Son  responded:  "Lo,  I 
come,  in  the  volume  of  the  book  it  is  written  of  me  to  do  thy 
will,  O  God  !"  And  he  accordingly  expressly  declared  to  the 
Jews,  "I  came  not  of  myself,  but  the  Father  sent  me." 

A  special  service  became  necessary,  viz,  to  make  known  and 
to  prepare  the  way  for  the  coming  of  Christ  to  certain  places  in 
Palestine.  The  Saviour  apprehended  the  qualifications  required 
to  perform  it,  and  finding  them  in  the  seventy  disciples,  he  sent 
them  forth  as  his  evangelists. 

Witnesses  of  his  resurrection,  and  mediums  of  divine  revela- 
tion, were  necessary  to  establish  the  Christian  Church.  In  the 
twelve  apostles  and  in  Paul,  Jesus  discovered  the  requisite  quali- 
fications, in  consequence  of  which  he  called  them  to  the  work  of 
the  apostleship. 

As  Jesus  had  called  evangelists  and  apostles,  so,  too,  did  he 
authorize  the  apostles  to  call  pastors,  evangelists,  teachers,  proph- 
ets, "for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints  and  the  edifying  of  the  body 
of  Christ."  And  those  in  whom  they  found  the  necessary  qual- 
ifications, through  their  own  observation,  inquiry  among  the 
members  of  the  churches,  or  otherwise,  they  regarded  as  called 
of  God  to  perform  such  parts  of  the  work  required  as  they  were 
severally  best  fitted  for,  and  through  their  own  agency  and  the 
cooperation  of  the  churches,  they  convinced  those  called  of  their 
duty,  and  induced  them  to  devote  themselves  to  the  offices 
above  designated. 

3.  From  the  Analogy  of  Faith.  The  truthfulness  of  any  the- 
ory propounded  in  the  domain  of  science  can  only  be  demon- 
strated by  showing  that  all  the  facts  pertaining  to  the  subject 
accord  with  it.  Newton,  having  conceived  the  tlieory  of  gravi- 
tation, viz,  that  the  force  of  gravitation  operates  directly  as  the 
quantity,  and  inversely  as  the  square  of  the  distance,  demon- 
strated its  truth  by  showing  that  the  movements  of  all  the  plan- 
ets and  their  satellites  accorded  with  it.  In  other  words,  when 
the  subjective  idea  and  the  objective  law  correlate  a  theory  is 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  21 

demonstrated.  The  truth  of  the  theory  under  consideration 
may  be  tested  in  the  same  manner.  In  order  to  demonstrate  it, 
all  the  passages  bearing  on  the  call  to  the  ministry  must  be 
collated,  and  interpreted  by  the  theory,  and  if  such  interpreta- 
tion accords  with  the  principles  of  hermeneutics,  the  demonstra- 
tion becomes  complete,  and  theological  truth  is  established. 

Having  subjected  our  theory  to  a  partial  induction,  embra- 
cing scripture  analogy  and  precedent,  we  now  extend  it  to  all 
other  passages  of  Scripture  having  reference  to  it,  and  render 
it  all  comprehensive.     We  herewith  give  a  number  of  them  : 

"No  man  taketh  this  honor  unto  himself,  but  he  that  is  called 
as  was  Aaron,"  Heb.  5:4.  A  bishop  then  must  not  be  a  nov- 
ice, apt  to  teach,  a  workman  that  needeth  not  be  ashamed, 
rightly  dividing  the  word  of  truth.  They  must  also  first  be 
proved  and  have  a  good  report  from  them  that  are  without. 
(See  I  Tim.  3d  c.)  "But  when  it  pleased  God,  who  separated 
me  from  my  mother's  womb,  and  called  me  by  his  grace  to  re- 
veal his  Son  in  me,  that  I  might  preach  him  among  the  heath- 
en ;  immediately  I  conferred  not  with  flesh  and  blood,"  Gal. 
1:15,  16.  "Neglect  not  the  gift  that  is  in  thee,  which  was 
given  thee  by  prophecy,  with  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the 
presbytery,"  i  Tim.  4  :  14.  "Necessity  is  laid  upon  me,  yea, 
woe  is  unto  me,  if  I  preach  not  the  Gospel,"  i  Cor.  9  :  16. 
*'Lay  hands  suddenly  on  no  man,"  i  Tim.  3  :  22.  "The  things 
that  thou  hast  heard  of  me  among  many  witnesses,  the  same 
commit  thou  to  faithful  men,  who  shall  be  able  to  teach  others 
also,"  2  Tim.  2  :  2.  "For  this  cause  left  I  thee  in  Crete,  that 
thou  shouldst  set  in  order  the  things  that  are  wanting,  and  or- 
dain elders  in  every  city,  as  I  had  appointed  thee,"  Titus  1  :  5. 
"And  when  they  (z.  e.  Paul  and  Barnabas)  had  ordained  them 
■elders  in  every  church,  and  had  prayed  with  fasting,  they  com- 
mended them  to  the  Lord,  on  whom  they  believed,"  Acts 
14:  23. 

From  a  careful  examination  of  these  passages,  each  class  of 
which  could  have  been  considerably  enlarged,  the  following 
points  are  clearly  and  consistently  set  forth  :  That  no  man 
has  a  right  to  take  unto  himself  the  office  of  the  ministry  at  his 
own  option  or  choice  ;  that  those  designed  to  preach  the  Gospel 


22  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

must  be  called  of  God  ;    that  this  call  is  not  now  given  by  him 
immediately,  but  mediately,  through  the  Church,  that  is  through 
her  members  or  pastors  ;  the  qualifications,  natural  and  spiritual 
for  which  the  representatives  of  the  Church  must  look  and  by 
which   they  are  to  be  governed  m  their  judgment  and  choice, 
are  explicitly  and  fully  set  forth  in  the  Scriptures ;  that  both 
their  qualifications  and  character  must  be  proved,  by  the  appli- 
cations of  the  texts  just  referred  to,  not  only  before  the  eyes  of 
the  Church,  but  also  of  the  world  ;  that  a  number  of  constitu- 
tional and  intellectual  deficiencies  and  defects  of  character  are 
also  stated  in  the  Scriptures,  as  constituting  marks  of  unfitness 
for  the   ministry,  and    from  the  exhibitions  of  which,  in  any 
given  case,  they  were  to  draw  the  conclusion,  that  such  persons 
were   not   called   to  the  ministerial  office ;    that  in  accordance 
with   these  instructions,  they  should  take  adequate  time  in  de- 
ciding every  individual  case,  and  lay  hands  suddenly  on  no  man  ; 
that  when  all  these  requisitions  had  been  fully  complied  with, 
then,  and  then  only,  were  they  authorized  to  commit  the  office 
of  the   ministry  to   such   as  proved  themselves  to  be  "faithful 
men,"  and  worthy  to  be  ambassadors  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  that 
Paul  and  Barnabas,  Timotheus  and  Titus,  acted  according  to 
these  directions,  in  selecting  pastors  for  the  congregations  then 
organized,  and   by  their  instructions  and  example,  settled  the 
Scriptural  theory  of  a  call  to  the  ministry,  by  which  alone  her 
elect  sons  can  be  called  out,  educated  and  ordained  in  sufficient 
numbers,  not  to  supply  her  own  pulpits,  but  to  make  known 
the  glad   tidings  of  salvation  among  all  nations.     It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  remind  the  reader  that  all  the  points  just  presented 
accord   with  the   scripture  precedents  and  examples  heretofore 
set  forth,  and  render  our  argument  from  the  analogy  of  faith 
complete  and  conclusive.     An  attempt  to  make  all  this  accord 
with  the  prevalent  theory  of  a  call  to  the  ministry,  might,  in- 
deed, be  made,  and  by  artfully  mixing  up  references  to  exam- 
ples  of  the  extraordinary   call   like  that  of  Paul  cited  above, 
through  the  direct  influences  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  with  the  ordi- 
nary call,  mediately  communicated  by  the  Church,  and  devel- 
oped by  the  ordinary  influences  of  the  Spirit  through  the  truth, 
but  such  a  course  perverts  the  testimony  of  the  Scriptures,  con- 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  23 

founds  calls  that  are  distinct,  is  illogical,  and  can  never  be  es- 
tablished, and  successfully  carried  out,  as  the  present  threatened 
famine  in  the  ministry  abundantly  proves. 

4.  From  the  Universality  of  the  Priesthood  of  Believers. 
In  the  Mosaic  economy,  the  priesthood  was  confined  to  the 
tribe  of  Levi,  and  the  high  priesthood  to  the  family  of  Aaron, 
and  transmitted  by  natural  descent,  constituting  an  hereditary, 
sacerdotal  order.  The  Romish  Church  modeled  its  priesthood 
after  the  Levitical  pattern,  constituting  an  indelible  priesthood, 
or  clerical  order,  according  to  which  he  who  is  "once  a  priest" 
remains  "always  a  priest."  Luther,  under  the  guidance  of  the 
New  Testament,  held  that  all  hereditary  restrictions  in  the  priest- 
hood had  been  abrogated  with  the  Jewish  dispensation  to  which 
it  belonged,  and  maintained  that  in  the  Christian  economy  all 
believers  became  priests.  The  positions  taken  by  him,  and  the 
arguments  by  which  he  sustained  them,  are  so  characteristic 
and  conclusive  that  we  subjoin  a  translation  of  the  principal 
parts  thereof: 

All  Christians  are  priests  through  Christ;  the  preachers  have 
only  an  ecclesiastical  office.  Christ  is  priest,  therefore  all  Chris- 
tians are  priests ;  that  this  is  a  true  and  Christian  inference  is 
evident  from  Psalm  22  :  22  :  "I  will  declare  thy  name  unto  my 
brethren,"  and  again  Ps.  45  :  7,  "Therefore,  God,  thy  God,  hath 
anointed  thee  with  the  oil  of  gladness  above  thy  fellows." 
That  we  are  his  brethren  is  effected  alone  through  the  new 
birth  ;  therefore,  we  are  also  priests  as  he  is,  we  are  sons  as  he 
is,  kings  as  he  is.  For  he  has  "raised  us  up  together  and  made 
us  sit  together  in  heavenly  places,"  that  "we  should  be  made 
heirs"  and  that  God  should  "with  him  also  freely  give  us  all 
things."  Eph.  2  :  6,  Tit.  3  :  7,  Rom.  8  :  32.  And  we  have  be- 
sides also  many  similar  scripture  passages  in  which  we  are  identi- 
fied with  Christ,  as  one  bread,  one  drink,  one  body,  one  member 
with  another,  one  flesh,  bone  of  his  bones  ;  yes,  that  we  have  all 
things  in  common  with  him. 

But  let  us  proceed  and  prove  also  from  the  offices  of  the  priests 
(as  they  are  called)  that  all  Christians  are  in  the  same  way 
priests.  The  priestly  offices  are  chiefly  the  following  :  teaching, 
preaching  and  proclaiming  the  word  of  God,  baptizing,  blessing 


24  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

or  administering  the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  binding  and  locrs- 
ing  from  sins,  praying  for  others,  offering  sacrifices,  and  judging 
all  other  doctrines  and  spirits. 

The  first  and  most  important,  upon  which  all  the  rest  depends, 
is  the  teaching  of  the  word  of  God.  For  with  the  word  we 
teach,  bless,  bind  and  loose,  baptize,  offer  sacrifice,  judge  and  de- 
cide everything ;  so  that  we  cannot  at  all  withhold  anything 
that  belongs  to  a  priest  from  him  whom  we  entrust  with  the 
word.  But  this  same  word  is  the  common  heritage  of  all 
Christians,  as  Isaiah  says,  54  :  13  :  "And  all  thy  children  shall 
be  taught  of  the  Lord."  Jer.  6  :  45,  Rom.  10  :  17,  Ps.  49  :  6 
and  following. 

That  the  first  office,  namely,  that  in  the  tvord  of  God,  is  com- 
mon to  all  Christians,  is  further  improved  by  i  Peter  2:9:  "Ye 
are  a  royal  priesthood,  an  holy  nation,  a  peculiar  people:  that" 
ye  should  show  forth  the  praises  of  him  who  hath  called  you 
out  of  darkness  into  his  marvelous  light."  Who  are  they,  I 
beg  of  you,  who  are  called  from  darkness  into  the  marvelous 
light?  Is  is  not  all  Christians?  But  Peter  gives  them  not  only 
the  right  but  also  a  command,  that  they  show  forth  the  praises 
of  God,  which  surely  is  nothing  else  than  the  preaching  of  the 
word  of  God.  Now  let  them  come  along  with  their  two  sorts 
of  priesthood,  one  spiritual  and  general,  the  other  special  and 
external,  and  pretend  that  Peter  is  here  speaking  of  the  spir- 
itual priesthood.  What  is  then  the  office  of  their  special  and 
external  priesthood  ?  Is  it  not  to  show  forth  the  praises  of  God  ? 
But  Peter  here  imposes  this  duty  upon  the  spiritual  and  com- 
mon priesthood. 

Christ  teaches  the  same  through  Matthew,  Mark  and  Luke, 
when  in  instituting  the  holy  supper  he  says  :  "This  do  in  re- 
membrance of  me."  But  this  remembrance  is  nothing  else  than 
the  preaching  of  the  word  ;  for  Paul  thus  explains  it,  i  Cor,  11  : 
26  :  "As  often  as  ye  eat  of  this  bread  and  drink  of  this  cup,  ye 
do  proclaim  the  Lord's  death  till  he  come." 

Now,  to  proclaim  the  Lord's  death  is  the  same  as  to  show 
forth  the  praises  of  the  Lord  who  has  called  us  from  darkness 
into  his  marvelous  light.  *  *  St.  Paul  also  confirms  the  same 
truth,  I  Cor.  14  :  26,  when  he  says  to  the  whole  Church  and  to* 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  2$ 

every  individual  Christian  :  "Every  one  of  you  hath  a  psalm, 
hath  a  doctrine,  hath  a  tongue,  hath  a  revelation,  hath  an  inter- 
pretation." And  in  verse  31  :  "For  all  may  prophesy,  one  by 
one,  that  all  may  learn  and  all  may  be  comforted."  Now,  my 
dear  friend,  do  tell  me  what  he  means  when  he  says  everj/  one  f 
What  is  the  meaning  of  the  little  word  all  ? 

The  second  office  is  baptizing.  They  have  themselves  by 
daily  custom  made  this  general,  even  allowing  women  to  per- 
form it  in  cases  of  necessity. 

•  The  third  office  is  that  of  blessing  or  administering  the  holy 
bread  and  wine.  *  *  Christ  said  :  "This  do  in  remembrance 
of  me."  This  he  said  to  all  who  were  present,  and  to  all  who 
thereafter  should  eat  and  drink  of  this  bread. and  wine.  *  * 
Paul  also  witnesses  to  this  i  Cor.  11  123;  Matt.  6  :  25. 

The  fourth  office  is  binding  and  loosing.  Here  comes  the 
word  of  Christ,  Matt.  18  :  15,  which  he  spake  not  only  to  the 
apostles,  but  to , all  the  brethren.     Also  verses  17  and  18. 

The  sixth  office  is  praying  for  others.  But  Christ  gave  to 
each  and  every  one  of  his  Christians  a  single  daily  prayer,  which, 
of  itself,  sufficiently  proves  and  confirms  the  truth  that  there  is 
but  one  priesthood  common  to  all. 

The  seventh  and  last  office  is  \\\2X  oi  judging  all  doctrines. 
John  10  :  5  :  "My  sheep  do  not  hear  the  voice  of  strangers." 
And  Matt.  7:15:  "Beware  of  false  prophets."  Matt.  16  :  6; 
Matt.  22  :  2,  3  ;  John  6  :  45. 

We  are  told,  Matt.  23  :  8  :  "One  is  your  master,  even  Christ, 
but  ye  are  all  brethren."  Therefore  we  are  all  equal  and  we 
have  all  only  one  right.  For  it  is  not  to  be  at  all  endured  that, 
among  those  who  are  called  brethren,  and  who  have  all  a  com- 
mon inheritance,  one  should  be  above  another,  should  receive  a 
larger  share  and  have  a  better  prerogative  than  another,  espe- 
cially in  spiritual  matters,  of  which  we  are  now  speaking. 

Now,  what  we  have  here  said  has  reference  only  to  the  com- 
mon right  and  power  of  all  Christians.  For,  although  all  the 
things  we  have  mentioned  are  said  to  be  common  to  all  Chris- 
tians (as  we  have  indeed  shown  and  proved),  yet  it  is  not  be- 
coming in  any  one  to  put  himself  forward  and  appropriate  to 


26  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

himself  what  belongs  to  us  all.  You  may  assume  this  right 
and  exercise  it  where  there  is  no  other  one  who  has  received 
such  a  right.  But  the  right  of  the  community  demands  that 
one,  or  as  many  as  the  congregation  may  please,  be  chosen  and 
appointed,  who,  in  the  stead  and  in  the  name  of  all  the  rest  who 
have  the  same  right,  may  publicly  perform  the  functions  of 
these  offices,  so  that  there  arise  no  abominable  confusion  among 
the  people  of  God,  and  that  the  Church,  in  which  all  things 
should  be  done  decently  and  in  order,  as  the  apostle  teaches,  i 
Cor.  14  :  40,  be  not  changed  into  a  Babel.  It  is  one  thing  for 
a  man  to  exercise,  by  the  authority  of  the  congregation,  a  right 
that  is  common  to  all,  and  it  is  quite  another  thing  for  him  to 
assume  for  himself  to  do  it  in  a  case  of  necessity.  In  a  congre- 
gation where  the  right  is  free  to  all,  no  one  should  assume  the 
exercise  of  it  without  the  will  and  choice  of  the  whole  congre- 
gation ;  but  in  a  case  of  necessity  any  one  who  chooses  may 
avail  himself  of  it. 

Now  I  think  it  clearly  appears  from  all  this  that  those  who 
administer  the  word  and  sacraments  to  the  people  neither  can 
nor  should  be  called  priests.  If  they  are  called  priests,  that  is 
done  either  in  imitation  of  the  heathen  or  it  is  a  remnant  of  the 
laws  of  the  Jewish  people ;  hence  it  has  wrought  great  harm  to 
the  Church.  But  in  accordance  with  scripture  usage  they  should 
rather  be  called  servants,  deacons,  bishops,  stewards,  who  also 
in  view  of  their  age  are  called  presbyters,  i.  e.  elders ;  for  Paul 
says,  I  Cor.  4:1,  "Let  a  man  so  account  of  us  as  of  the  min- 
isters of  Christ  and  stewards  of  the  mysteries  of  God."  (He 
did  not  say — regard  us  as  the  priests  of  Christ ;  he  knew  very 
well  that  the  name  and  office  of  priest  was  common  to  all). 
Hence  comes  that  familiar  word  of  Paul,  dispensation,  or  in 
Greek,  oiKov6}xia ,-  in  German,  hmishalten,  [stewardship]  ;  also, 
ministerium,  minister;  in  German  ^/^;/5/ [service]  ;  <?;;// [office], 
and  diener  [servant]. 

If  then  they  are  merely  servants,  then  there  is  an  end,  too,  of 
the  ineradicable  mark  of  their  priesthood,  and  of  the  perpetuity 
of  their  priestly  dignity.  That  one  must  always  remain  a  priest 
is  an  invention ;  on  the  other  hand,  a  servant  can  be  dismissed 
if  he  prove  no  longer  faithful.     But  he  can  be  kept  in  office  as 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  27 

long  as  he  is  deserving  and  is  satisfactory  to  the  congregation, 
just  as  every  one  who,  among  equal  brothers,  exercises  a  com- 
mon office  among  them  in  secular  affairs. 

We  have  here  learned,  clearer  than  the  day  and  more  surely 
than  sure,  whence  we  are  to  take  the  priests  or  servants  of  the 
word  ;  namely,  we  are  to  elect  them  from  the  mass  of  Christ's 
followers,  and  nowhere  else.  For,  as  it  has  been  sufficiently 
proved  that  every  one  has  the  right  to  administer  the  word, 
yes,  that  it  is  his  duty  to  do  so  if  he  sees  that  either  there  is  no 
other  one  at  hand  to  do  it,  or  that  those  who  do  are  teaching 
wrongly,  as  Paul  states,  i  Cor.  14  :  27  sq.,  so  that  the  praise  of 
God  may  be  shown  forth  by  us  all ;  how  much  more  should  not 
a  whole  congregation  have  the  right,  and  this  duty  too,  that  by 
a  general  election  it  could  commit  such  an  office  to  one  or  more 
in  its  stead,  and  set  these  apart  as  office-bearers  over  the  others 
with  their  consent. 

This  is  what  Paul  does,  2  Tim.  2  :  2,  when  he  says :  "The 
same  commit  thou  to  faithful  men,  who  shall  be  able  to  teach 
others  also."  Here  Paul  throws  aside  all  ceremony — cares  for 
no  consecration,  demands  only  such  as  are  capable  of  teaching, 
and  all  he  wants  is  that  to  them  alone  the  word  be  committed. 
When  thus  the  office  of  the  word  is  conferred  upon  some  one, 
there  are  conferred  with  it  all  the  offices  that  are  administered 
by  means  of  the  word  in  the  Church,  i.  e.,  the  authority  to  bap- 
tize, to  bless,  to  bind  and  loose,  to  pray,  and  to  judge  or  decide. 
For  the  office  of  preaching  the  Gospel  is  the  highest  of  all. 

Condition.  Although  every  one  has  authority  to  preach,  yet 
we  should  not  employ  any  one  to  do  it,  and  no  one  should  un- 
dertake to  do  it,  unless  he  be  better  fitted  for  it  than  others. 
And  others  should  give  way  to  him,  so  that  suitable  honor,  dis- 
cipline and  order  be  observed.  For  thus  Paul  commands  Tim- 
othy, 2  Tim.  2  :  2,  that  he  should  commit  the  preaching  of  the 
word  to  those  who  were  fitted  for  it,  and  could  teach  and  in- 
struct others.  For  he  who  is  to  preach  should  have  a  good 
voice,  a  good  delivery,  a  good  memory,  and  other  natural  gifts. 
If  any  one  has  not  these,  he  will  do  better  to  be  quiet  and  let 
another  speak. 

The  Lutheran  Church  adopted  Luther's  doctrine  of  the  uni- 


28  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

versality  of  the  priesthood,  according  to  which  all  believers  be- 
come priests  of  Christ,  and  each  one  is  called  to  perform  that 
part  of  the  work  for  which  he  is  peculiarly  fitted. 

According  to  this  view,  the  ministry  does  not  constitute  a 
peculiar  order,  but  an  office  of  special  service  in  the  Church,  to 
which  all  are  called  who  possess  the  requisite  qualifications  to 
"labor  in  word  and  doctrine."  It  accordingly  becomes  the  duty 
of  the  Church  to  look  out  for  the  scriptural  marks  of  a  call  to 
the  ministry,  and  endeavor  to  induce  an  adequate  number  of 
the  universal  priesthood  to  respond  to  her  call  to  devote  them- 
selves to  the  office  of  the  Christian  ministry.  Although  all 
believers  are  priests,  and  each  one  is  endowed  with  the  func- 
tions of  the  common  priesthood,  nevertheless,  as  all  are  not  en- 
dowed with  the  qualifications  necessary  to  the  exercise  of  the 
functions  of  the  ministry,  it  becomes  necessary  for  the  common 
priesthood  or  Church  to  invest  those  specially  qualified  to  preach 
the  Gospel  and  administer  the  sacraments,  with  the  preroga- 
tives of  the  ministry,  through  ordination  conferred  by  the  laying 
on  of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery  or  ministerium,  and  then  to 
elect  or  call  them  to  exercise  the  office  of  the  ministry  as  pastors 
of  their  respective  congregations,  and  to  commission  and  send 
forth  as  many  others  as  may  be  needed  to  supply  the  waste 
places  at  home  and  in  foreign  lands. 

4.  From  the  Lutheran  Doctrme  of  the  Ministry.  This  is 
stated  in  the  Symbolical  Books  as  follows : 

God  has  appointed  the  ministry  to  preach  the  Gospel  and 
administer  the  sacraments.     Aug.  Conf. 

"Concerning  Ecclesiastical  Orders,  they  teach  that  no  man 
should  publicly  in  the  Church,  teach,  or  administer  the  sacra- 
ments, except  he  be  regularly  called."     A.  C,  Art.  XIV. 

"The  Church  has  the  command  of  God  to  appoint  preachers 
and  deacons.  While  this  is  very  precious,  we  know  that  God 
will  preach  and  work  through  men,  and  those  who  have  been 
elected  by  man."     Apology,  Art.  IV. 

"The  churches  undoubtedly  retain  the  authority  to  call,  to 
elect  and  to  ordain  ministers.  And  this  authority  is  a  privilege 
which  God  has  given  especially  to  the  Church,  and  it  cannot  be 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  29 

taken  away  from  the  Church  by  any  human  power  as  Paul  tes- 
tified, Eph.  4  :  8,  II,  12."     Smalcald  Articles. 

Schmid,  in  his  Dogmatic,  summarizes  the  Lutheran  doctrine 
of  the  ministry  as  follows:  "This  office  is,  therefore,  one  of  di- 
vine appointment,  and  God  has,  at  times,  himself  called  single 
individuals  into  it ;  while  now  he  does  it  only  mediately,  namely, 
through  the  Church,  which  has  received  from  him  the  right  and 
the  authorization  to  do  it."  "Individual  teachers  must  now, 
therefore,  have  received  their  call  and  authorization  from  the 
Church,  if  they  are  to  have  legitimately  the  right  to  teach  and 
administer  the  sacraments."  We  subjoin  but  a  few  quotations 
from  those  given  by  Schmid,  to  sustain  the  statements  quoted 
above.  "By  the  divine  call  is  understood  the  appointment  of  a 
certain  and  suitable  person  to  the  ministry  of  the  Church,  made 
by  God,  either  alone,  or  by  the  intervening  judicial  aid  of  men." 
Hollaz. 

"God  calls  men  to  the  ecclesiastical  office,  sometimes  immedi- 
ately, as  Moses  and  the  apostles,  and  at  other  times  mediately, 
viz,  through  the  Church,  which  in  the  name  of  God  commits 
this  office  to  certain  persons."     Baier. 

"An  immediate  call  is  not  to  be  expected  in  the  Church  to- 
day."    Hollaz. 

"The  difference  between  the  mediate  and  immediate  call  con- 
sists always  and  only  in  this,  that  the  former  is  effected  through 
ordinary,  means,  divinely  appointed  for  this  purpose,  but  the 
latter  through  God  himself  The  mediate  call,  therefore,  is  to 
be  considered  no  less  a  divine  call — for  it  is  referred  to  God  as 
its  author — it  is  based  upon  apostolic  authority — and  the  same 
promises  belong  to  those  thus  called."      Gerhard. 

"The  less  (or  minor)  principal  cause  constituting  the  ministry 
is  the  Church,  to  which  the  right  has  been  granted  by  God  of 
electing,  ordaining  and  calling  suitable  ministers  of  the  divine 
word — nevertheless  with  the  observance  of  becoming  order  in 
the  exercise  of  this  right.  Therefore  the  examination,  ordina- 
tion and  inauguration  belong  to  the  presbytery,  and  the  con- 
sent, vote  and  approval  to  the  people."     Hollaz. 

From  the  above  quotations,  the  Lutheran  doctrine,  concern- 
ing the  call  and  office  of  the  ministry,  may  be  summarily  set 


30  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

forth  as  follows  :  That  Jesus  Christ,  the  head  of  the  Church, 
has  conferred  the  power  of  calling  pastors  to  preach  the  Gos- 
pel, administer  the  sacraments  and  discipline,  and  ordain  minis- 
ters, upon  the  whole  Church.  Under  the  proper  distribution 
of  the  powers,  thus  conferred,  the  right  to  call  or  elect  their 
own  pastor  belongs  to  the  laity,  and  the  authority  to  preach  the 
Gospel,  ordain  pastors,  administer  ordinances,  and  enforce  dis- 
cipline, is  ordinarily  vested  in  the  ministry. 

The  "whole  Church,"  is  made  up  of  congregations,  congrega- 
tions of  families,  and  families  of  members.  All  church  mem- 
bers are  invested  with  the  same  prerogatives,  and  obligated  to 
discharge  the  same  duties.  As  each  member  is  interested  in 
the  ministry  and  partakes  of  the  benefits  conferred  by  their 
labors,  so  too  is  each  one  privileged  and  bound  to  take  part  in 
looking  out  for  those  young  men,  who  give  evidence  of  possess- 
ing the  natural  talents  and  spiritual  graces,  which,  if  cultivated 
by  education  and  the  means  of  grace,  would  fit  them  for  the 
work  of  the  ministry.  And  as  parents,  teachers,  professors, 
church  officers,  and  pastors,  are  brought  into  frequent  and  inti- 
mate contact  with  boys  and  young  men  of  riper  age,  it  becomes 
their  special  duty,  to  improve  the  advantages  thus  afforded  them, 
and  by  their  counsels  and  instructions,  assist  those  adapted  by 
nature  and  grace  for  usefulness  in  the  church,  to  come  to  an  in- 
telligent conclusion  that  they  are  called  to  the  ministry,  and  to 
induce  them  to  prepare  themselves  to  labor  in  the  vineyard  of 
Christ.  And  having  in  these  and  other  ways  taken  part  in 
multiplying  the  number,  and  improving  the  character  and  effi- 
ciency of  the  ministry,  they  are  permitted  to  exercise  the  right 
of  electing  pastors  to  exercise  ministerial  functions  in  their  re- 
spective congregations. 

TH*  PREVALENT  THEORY  AS  SET  FORTH  BY  ITS  ADVOCATES. 

The  distinguishing  features  of  the  prevalent  theory  may  be 
learned  from  the  following  quotations  : 

Dr.  H.  S.  Storrs,  in  his  Lectures  on  Preaching,  in  referring 
to  his  relinquishment  of  the  study  of  the  lavv',  and  his  entry  upon 
that  of  theology,  says:  "When  my  plans  of  life  were  changed, 
under  the  impulse,  as  I  thought,  of  God's  Spirit,  and  I  had  de- 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  3 1 

Voted  myself  to  the  ministry,  I  determined  to  fit  myself  for  it, 
and  to  preach  without  reading." 

Dr.  T.  D.  Witherspoon,  in  referring  to  Saul's  preaching  Christ, 
says :  "The  call  of  Saul  of  Tarsus  was  in  many  respects  extra- 
ordinary. *  *  But  though  the  call  was  thus  in  its  method 
extraordinary,  in  essence  it  was  the  same  that  every  one  must 
have  who  would  enter  upon  this  office.  There  must  be  an  im- 
pression deeply  wrought  in  the  heart  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  that 
it  is  our  duty  to  serve  him  in  the  ministry,  that  thus  we  can 
best  honor  him  and  best  fulfil  the  mission  he  has  given  us  in 
the  world — a  conviction  that  grows  stronger  as  it  is  prayerfully 
deliberated  upon  and  does  not  yield  in  prospect  of  the  self-de- 
nials and  sacrifices  which  such  a  life  entails." 

Bridges,  in  his  Christian  Ministry,  describes  the  ministerial 
call,  as  follows :  "The  internal  call  is  the  voice  and  power  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  directing  the  will  and  the  judgment  and  con- 
veying personal  qualifications.  *  *"  An  inward  movement  by 
the  Holy  Ghost  must  imply  his  influence  upon  the  heart,  not 
indeed  manifested  by  any  enthusiastic  impulse,  but  enlighten- 
ing the  heart  under  a  deep  impression  of  the  worth  of  souls ; 
constraining  the  soul  by  the  love  of  Christ  to  spend  and  be 
spent  for  him  ;  and  directing  the  conscience  to  a  sober,  search- 
ing, self-inquiry;  to  a  daily  study  of  the  Word;  to  fervent 
prayer  in  reference  to  this  great  matter;  and  to  a  careful  ob- 
servation of  the  providential  indications  of  our  Master's  will." 

Bishop  Simpson,  in  his  Lectures  on  Preaching,  .sets  forth  his 
views  in  the  following  explicit  and  discriminating  manner  :  "The 
first  evidence  of  a  divine  call  is  in  the  con.sciousness  of  the  indi- 
vidual, and  is  a  persuasion  which,  slight  as  it  may  be  at  first, 
deepens  into  an  intense  conviction  that  he  is  called  of  God  to 
preach  the  Gospel."  *  *  "In  its  slightest  form  it  (the  call) 
is  a  persuasion  that  he  who  receives  it  ought  to  preach  the  Gos- 
pel ;  in  its  strongest  form,  that  God  requires  him  to  do  this 
work  at  the  peril  of  his  soul."  *  *  "It  is  God's  voice  to  the 
human  conscience  saying,  'You  ought  to  preach.'"  "Admit- 
ing  the  existence  of  this  conviction,  how  is  it  known  to  be  of 
divine  origin."  *  *  "I  think  there  is  nothing  unphilosoph- 
jcal  in  referring  it  to  a  purely  spiritual  source,  even  to  God  him- 


32  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

self."  "In  this  respect  it  resembles  the  work  of  conversion." 
"Peace  springs  up  in  the  heart,  but  whence  that  peace  comes, 
consciousness  alone  cannot  tell."  "Yet  the  true  Christian  at 
once  and  correctly  ascribes  it  to  a  divine  source."  *  *  "That 
a  young  man  may  be  truly  called  of  God,  but  it  is  impossible 
for  him  to  know  it,  except  by  way  of  inference  from  surround- 
ing indications."  "This  philosophy  I  believe  to  be  radically 
defective."  "Admitting,  however,  that  this  knowledge  is  not 
absolute,  but  merely  strongly  presumptive,  there  are  other  indi- 
cations which  are  confirmative."  "We  are  commanded  to  try 
the  spirits,  whether  they  be  of  God,  and  we  have  tests  by  which 
the  trial  can  be  made."  *  *  "That  which  is  discovered  by 
one,  soon  becomes  manifest  to  all,  and  the  Church,  in  whatever 
way  it  may  operate,  opens  for  him  a  door-way  leading  into  the 
ministry."  "This  call  of  the  Church  added  to  the  conscious 
call,  greatly  strengthens  the  conviction  of  duty." 

"Some  writers  *  *  distinguish  between  what  they  term  the 
ordinary  and  extraordinary  call."  "In  the  ordinary  call  they 
teach  that  the  young  man  arrives  at  the  conviction  that  he 
should  preach,  from  consideration  of  his  qualifications,  mental 
tendencies  and  surrounding  circumstances ;  that  the  same  influ- 
ences lead  him  to  enter  the  ministry,  which,  with  some  changes 
would  have  led  him  to  enter  the  profession  of  medicine  or  law, 
or  to  have  engaged  in  some  secular  pursuit."  *  *  "So  he 
selects  the  ministry  believing  that  thereby  he  can  best  promote 
his  own  happiness  and  the  welfare  of  humanity." 
V  From  a  careful  examination  of  the  quotations  just  given,  the 
'following  points  become  manifest,  and  deserve  special  notice. 
The  phraseology  employed  in  describing  the  call  to  the  minis- 
try varies,  is  somewhat  vague,  and  leaves  an  ambiguous  im- 
pression on  the  mind  of  the  reader.  No  attempt  is  made 
to  explain  intelligently  the  manner  and  the, means  through 
which  the  person  obtained  the  knowledge  and  assurance  of  the 
fact  that  God  designed  him  for  the  ministry.  One  of  these 
writers  says  that  the  Holy  Spirit  communicates  a  knowledge  of 
this  call  by  awakening  an  impulse,  another  that  he  accomplishes 
it  by  an  impression,  and  a  third,  that  he  does  it  by  calling  forth 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  33 

2i  persuasion,  each  of  which  culminates  in  a  conclusion,  that  it  is 
his  duty  to  devote  himself  to  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel. 

Webster  defines  the  meaning  and  explains  the  manner  in 
which  impulses,  impressions  and  persuasions  produce  convic- 
tion and  oblige  the  conscience,  as  follows :  Impulse,  he  repre- 
sents as  "a  supposed,  supernatural  influence  or  motive  on  the 
mind."  Impression  he  illustrates  thus  :  "the  truths  of  the  Gos- 
pel make  an  impression  on  the  mind."  Persuasion,  he  defines 
as  "arguments  or  reasons  that  move  the  will  to  determination." 
Conviction  he  declares  to  be  "a  strong  belief  or  settled  opinion, 
oh  the  ground  of  satisfactory  evidence."  These  definitions  and 
explanations  show,  that  such  impulses,  impressions  and  per- 
suasions, culminating  in  a  conviction  of  a  call  to  the  ministry, 
can  only  be  produced  by  the  apprehension  of  such  truths  con- 
tained in  the  Scriptures,  concerning  the  ministry,  as  constitute 
arguments,  reasons,  or  motives,  adapted  according  to  the  laws 
of  mind,  to  call  it  forth  in  consciousness.  And  as  this  rational 
and  scriptural  method  of  communicating  the  knowledge  of  a 
call  to  the  ministry  is  denied  by  the  advocates  of  the  prevalent 
theory,  there  remains  no  other  method,  but  that  of  an  immedi- 
ate call  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  without  any  medium  of  communica- 
tion, which  is  tantamount  to  the  reception  of  a  direct  revelation 
by  inspiration. 

In  corroboration  of  the  conclusion  just  drawn,  we  call  atten- 
tion to  the  fact,  that  these  writers  make  no  careful  discrimina- 
tion between  the  direct  manner  in  which  Christ  made  known 
their  call  to  the  apostles,  and  the  apostles  to  the  elders  or  pas- 
tors of  the  churches,  and  the  indirect  manner  in  which  the  Holy 
Spirit  now  convinces  men  of  their  call  to  the  ministry,  through 
the  truths  pertaining  thereto,  revealed  in  the  word  of  God.  No 
passages  of  Scripture  are  quoted  and  no  apostolic  examples 
cited  in  support  of  the  views  maintained.  And  in  so  far  as 
reference  is  made  to  the  call  of  Paul,  it  is  done  in  such  terms  as 
to  leave  the  impression,  that  every  minister  in  our  day  is  au- 
thorized to  look  for  a  revelation  of  his  call  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
as  real,  immediate  and  unmistakable  as  that  made  by  him  to 
Saul  of  Tarsus,  the  miraculous  circumstances  attending  it  alone 
excepted. 


34  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

We  are  told  that  this  persuasion  may  at  first  be  very  slight 
in  the  consciousness  of  the  individual,  and  that,  although  it 
deepens  into  an  intense  conviction  of  his  call,  it  amounts  to  lit- 
tle more  in  the  end  than  a  strong  presumption,  which  is  to  be 
verified  by  confirmatory  tests  drawn  from  the  Scriptures.  But 
no  such  uncertainty  attached  to  the  divine  call  in  the  Apostolic 
churches,  and  this  admission  of  uncertainty  as  regards  the  real- 
ity of  the  call  in  our  day,  throws  the  veil  of  doubt  over  the  sufifi- 
ciency  of  the  knowledge  communicated  by  the  Spirit,  and  proves 
that  his  revelations  on  this  subject  have  become  defective,  and 
cannot  now  be  relied  upon  with  any  great  degree  of  certitude. 

It  is  also  stated  that  conscience  must  impel  to  the  study  of 
the  Scriptures,  as  a  confirmation  of  the  inward  call,  but  the 
Word  is  not  recognized  as  the  instrument  of  the  Spirit  in  call- 
ing it  forth.  The  Church  is  also  mentioned,  but  her  office  is 
represented  as  that  of  recognizing  and  endorsing  the  judgment 
of  the  individual,  that  he  has  received  a  direct  call  from  the 
Spirit,  followed  by  ordination  through  her  ministers,  and  sub- 
sequently by  an  election  from  the  laity.  But  no  part  is  as- 
signed her  in  calling  out  those  whom  she  judges  to  be  pos- 
sessed of  the  proper  natural  and  spiritual  qualifications,  to  fit 
them  for  the  office  of  the  ministry. 

It  is  further  maintained  that  a  person,  in  whose  consciousness 
the  conviction  has  arisen,  that  he  is  called  to  the  ministry,  has 
the  same  reason  for  attributing  it  to  a  spiritual  source,  yea, 
even  to  God  himself,  as  the  Christian  has  for  believing  that  the 
peace  which  sprang  up  in  his  heart  at  the  time  of  his  conver- 
sion, was  imparted  to  him  by  the  direct  witness  of  the  Spirit. 
But  as  the  Father  bears  witness  to  his  existence  and  attributes 
through  the  effects  produced  in  nature,  and  the  Son  bore 
witness  to  his  messiahship  through  his  works,  so,  does  the 
Spirit  bear  witness  with  our  spirits,  that  we  are  the  children  of 
God,  through  the  effects  produced  on  our  minds  and  hearts  ; 
in  other  words,  through  the  work  and  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  as  de- 
scribed in  the  Scriptures,  and  not  by  any  new  and  direct  reve- 
lation made  to  the  soul.  And  the  manner  in  which  the  Spirit 
bears  witness  of  a  call  to  the  ministry,  is  the  same,  viz.,  through 
the  truths  revealed  by  him  in  the  word  of  God, 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  35- 

The  prevalent  theory,  as  thus  explauied  by  its  advocates,  lies 
open  to  the  following  objections  : 

1.  It  constitutes  the  individual  himself  the  sole  judge  of  his 
call  to  the  ministry.  He  has  in  some  mysterious  manner  be- 
come convinced  that  he  is  called  to  the  ministry,  and  he  believes 
that  the  fact  has  been  communicated  to  him  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 
He  feels  bound  by  conscience  to  devote  himself  to  the  work  of 
preaching  the  Gospel.  He  communicates  the  intelligence  either 
to  his  parents,  pastor  or  the  education  committee,  who  are  ex- 
pected to  accept  his  judgment  and  recognize  the  validity  of  his 
call. 

2.  The  age,  circumstances  and  manner  in  which  it  is  claimed 
that  the  knowledge  of  the  call  was  communicated  to  the  indi- 
vidual, invest  it  with  doubt  and  uncertainty.  It  takes  place 
usually  at  an  early  age,  before  his  natural  talents  have  been  de- 
veloped by  education,  and  his  moral  character  has  been  fully 
tested.  He  has  little  or  no  knowledge  of  the  work  and  require- 
ments of  the  ministry,  nor  of  his  adaptation,  through  his  natural 
and  spiritual  gifts,  for  its  successful  prosecution.  Neither  has 
he  any  intelligent  apprehension  of  the  means  and  manner  in 
which  the  Holy  Spirit  now  begets  a  conviction  of  a  call  to  the 
ministry,  but  takes  it  for  granted  that  he  received  his  impres- 
sions immediately  from  the  Holy  Spirit.  A  youth  of  tender 
age,  immature  in  mind,  without  a  proper  knowledge  either  of 
himself,  the  workings  of  the  Spirit  or  the  ministry,  without  ex- 
perience and  without  counsel,  decides  that  God  designed  him 
for  the  ministry,  and,  as  might  well  be  anticipated,  mistakes  his 
calling,  and  proves  a  failure. 

3.  No  satisfactory  evidences  are  furnished,  and  no  adequate 
tests  can  be  applied  to  verify  this  immediate  call.  The  min- 
istry is  the  highest  of  all  professions,  and  imposes  the  greatest 
responsibilities.  It  involves  not  only  the  character,  usefulness 
and  destiny  of  the  incumbent,  but  also  the  interests  and  salva- 
tion of  men.  No  man  has  a  right  to  assume  it  without  satis- 
factory evidence,  and  no  one  should  be  invested  with  it  without 
having  been  "proved"  according  to  the  Scriptures.  But  such 
is  the  nature  and  source  of  this  call,  that  it  rests  upon  no  other 
evidence  than  the  testimony  of  the  individual  that  the  Holy 


36  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

Spirit  has  revealed  to  him  the  fact.  No  satisfactory  proofs  can 
be  furnished  to  substantiate  it,  and  all  the  tests  furnished  by  the 
Scriptures  as  safeguards  against  the  introduction  of  novices, 
blind  guides,  and  false  prophets  into  the  sacred  office,  are  shut 
out.  Christ  himself  did  not  ask  men  to  accredit  him  as  a  mes- 
senger from  God,  without  appealing  to  the  witness  of  his  char- 
acter and  works ;  and  a  theory  of  the  ministerial  call  that  ex- 
cludes spiritual  credentials  and  scriptural  tests,  cannot  be  the 
true  one. 

4.  The  Anabaptists  and  other  enthusiasts  of  the  Reformation 
period,  as  well  as  other  religious  pretenders  in  both  ancient  and 
modern  times,  have  set  up  the  claim  that  they  had  a  direct  call 
from  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  he  indited  their  utterances,  and  that 
they  had  received  immediate  revelations.  While  most  of  the 
advocates  of  the  prevalent  theory  would  repudiate  such  extreme 
pretensions,  and  some  of  those  mentioned  above  have  uttered 
express  disclaimers  against  such  delusions,  it  nevertheless  re- 
mains true  that  the  language  they  employ  in  setting  forth  their 
views  makes  the  same  impression.  And  their  disclaimers,  al- 
though designed  to  guard  against  such  an  interpretation,  simply 
reveal  their  inconsistency,  and  constitute  a  corroboration  of  the 
true  theory,  extorted  from  them  by  the  manifest  absurdity  of 
such  pretentious  claims. 

5.  A  man's  entrance  upon  the  ministry,  according  to  the 
prevalent  theory,  becomes  an  exception  to  his  selection  of  any 
other  calling  in  life,  whether  secular  or  ecclesiastical.  The  se- 
lection of  some  vocation  becomes  indispensable  to  all  men.  In 
making  the  choice,  the  person's  adaptations,  qualifications  and 
preference  must  be  taken  into  due  consideration.  The  counsel 
of  parents  and  the  advice  of  judicious  friends  are  in  most  cases 
sought  in  coming  to  a  final  decision.  In  employing  men  in  any 
department  of  business,  or  in  electing  them  to  any  office  of  pub- 
lic trust,  their  characters  and  qualifications  become  the  control- 
ling considerations  in  making  the  engagement  on  electing  the 
incumbent.  Nor  is  a  different  course  pursued  in  ecclesiastical 
affairs.  Any  officers  that  were  needed  were  selected  on  the 
ground  of  their  fitness  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  special 
service  called  for.     Now  the  theory  that  lays  all  these  prece- 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  3/ 

dents  aside,  and  encourages  men  to  choose  the  ministry,  with- 
out taking  their  natural  and  spiritual  qualifications  into  consid- 
eration as  the  basis  of  a  just  decision — without  the  judgment  of 
any  of  the  representatives  of  the  Church,  through  a  direct  call 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  not  only  at  variance  with  the  uniform 
practice  in  both  secular  and  religious  affairs,  but  also  inconsis- 
tent with  Scripture  precedent  and  apostolic  example. 

Nor  can  we  overlook  another  still  more  glaring  inconsistency 
into  which  these  writers  have  fallen.  While  they  object  to  the 
rational,  logical  and  scriptural  method,  according  to  which  the 
Holy  Spirit,  by  means  of  the  truth,  enables  an  individual  to 
draw  the  legitimate  conclusion,  that  it  is  his  bounden  duty  to 
preach  the  Gospel,  they,  nevertheless,  admit  that  the  source 
whence  the  impulse,  impression  or  persuasion  has  arisen  in  the 
consciousness  of  a  person,  is  unknown  to  him,  and  accept  his 
conclusions,  that  it  must  have  come  from  the  Holy  Spirit,  yea, 
from  God  himself;  and  that  it  must  mean  that  he  is  called  to 
the  ministry,  on  the  ipse  dixit  of  the  individual,  without  any 
reference  to  his  natural  or  spiritual  qualifications,  or  the  appli- 
cation, at  the  time,  of  any  scriptural  tests  whatever,  as  a  verifi- 
cation of  his  inferences,  and  the  validity  of  his  convictions  of 
duty.  In  other  words,  they  reject  the  legitimacy  of  the  conclu- 
sions, logically  drawn  from  premises  furnished  by  nature,  grace 
and  Scripture,  and  rely  upon  those  drawn  from  the  imagination 
of  the  individual  himself,  unsustained  by  any  other  proof. 

Further,  when  God,  the  Father,  testifies  that  a  m^n  is  not 
called  to  the  ministry,  by  creating  him,  without  those  constitu- 
tional endowments  of  mind,  heart  and  speech,  indispensable  to 
the  successful  prosecution  of  the  work  of  the  ministry,  it  is  pre- 
posterous to  suppose  that  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  knows  the  mind 
of  God,  the  Father,  to  contradict  his  testimony  by  bearing  wit- 
ness directly  to  the  same  individual,  that  God  has  called  him  to 
the  ministry.  And  yet  the  simple  statement  of  an  individual^ 
that  he  has  received  a  call  from  the  Spirit,  is  credited  by  the 
advocates  of  the  prevalent  theory,  in  spite  of  the  notorious  fact, 
that  in  many  cases,  such  pretensions  are  unsupported  by  the 
testimony   of  the   Spirit,  given  in  the  Scriptures,  setting  forth 


38  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

the  qualifications  that  those  whom  he  has  called  must  possess, 
and  contradicted  by  the  testimony  of  God,  the  Father,  as  mani- 
fested by  the  deficiency  of  constitutional  endowments. 

THE  TRUE  THEORY  EXPLAINED. 

The  faculties  of  the  soul  brought  into  operation  in  imparting' 
the  knowledge,  and  producing  the  conviction  of  a  call  to  the 
ministry  are  the  understanding,  the  heart,  the  conscience  and 
the  will.  Through  attention,  the  understanding  apprehends 
truth  and  accumulates  knowledge;  through  knowledge,  thus 
obtained,  the  heart  is  moved  and  puts  forth  emotions;  through 
the  knowledge  and  feelings  thus  excited,  the  conscience  is  acted 
upon  by  moral  considerations  and  imposes  a  sense  of  obligation, 
and  through  the  combined  operation  of  truth  apprehended,  de- 
sires awakened,  and  convictions  of  duty  realized,  as  motive  forces, 
the  will  is  impelled,  to  form  determinations,  culminating  in 
corresponding  action.  These  faculties  as  conferred  in  crea- 
tion, cannot  in  their  natural  state,  by  any  form  or  degree 
of  cultivation,  develop  a  true  call  to  the  ministry.  In  order 
that  this  may  be  effected,  it  becomes  indispensable,  that  these 
natural  faculties  be  transformed  into  spiritual  graces.  This  is 
accomplished  by  the  Holy  Spirit  through  the  means  of  grace, 
whereby  the  natural  man  is  begotten  of  the  truth,  born  of  the 
Spirit,  and  made  a  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus.  As  in  produc- 
ing conviction  of  sin  the  Spirit  uses  the  law  and  in  working 
faith  ana  regenerating  the  heart,  he  reveals  the  things  of  Christ, 
in  calling  forth  the  conviction  of  a  call  to  the  ministry,  he 
brings  into  requisition  all  the  truths  of  Scripture  bearing  upon 
the  subject.  Through  this  spiritual  transformation,  the  under- 
standing becomes  enlightened,  the  love  of  God  and  of  man  is 
shed  abroad  in  the  heart,  the  conscience  becomes  sensitive  to 
moral  impressions,  a  clear  conviction  of  duty  ensues,  and  the 
high  resolve  is  formed  to  devote  life  to  the  service  of  God,  in 
the  work  of  the  ministry.  Correct  views  are  entertained  of  the 
glory  of  God  as  the  ultimate  end  of  life,  a  deep  and  abiding  in- 
terest is  felt  in  the  spiritual  welfare  of  man,  a  conclusion  legiti- 
mately drawn,  that  in  the  ministry,  the  greatest  usefulness  could 
be  attained,  and  a  governing  purpose  formed,  so  deep  and  com- 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  39 

prehensive,  as  to  effect  a  permanent  change  in  the  radical  dis- 
position, and  rendering  the  candidate  and  the  minister  suscep- 
tible to,  and  interested  in,  all  ethical  and  religious  subjects  and 
ecclesiastical  affairs. 

The  following  passages  may  be  quoted  as  having  a  direct 
bearing  on  the  call  to  the  ministry:  "Ye  are  not  your  own,  for 
we  are  bought  with  a  price,  therefore  glorify  God  in  your  body 
and  in  your  spirit,  which  are  God's."  "Whether  therefore  ye  eat 
or  drink,  or  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God." 
"Diligent  in  business,  fervent  in  spirit,  serving  the  Lord."  "Son, 
go  work  to-day  in  my  vineyard."  "Go  thou  and  preach  the 
kingdom  of  God."  The  parable  of  the  ten  talents ;  the  pas- 
sages describing  the  qualifications,  duties  and  promises  made  to 
ministers  ;  the  directions  given  by  Paul  to  Timothy  and  Titus, 
embracing  the  tests  they  were  to  apply  in  determining  the  ques- 
tion of  a  call  to  the  ministry  :  the  examples  furnished,  illustrat- 
ing the  truths  contained  in  the  passages  quoted  and  referred  to 
together  with  all  the  warning  against  rushing  into  the  ministry 
unbidden,  and  all  the  threatenings  declared  against  hypocrites 
and  false  teachers,  to  whom,  as  "wandering  stars,  is  reserved  the 
blackness  of  darkness  forever." 

Now,  as  the  holy  Scriptures  contain  the  whole  revealed  will 
of  God,  and  as  such  are  able  to  make  us  wise  unto  salvation ;" 
as  all  men  are  warned  against  "being  wise  above  what  is  writ- 
ten," as  it  is  enjoined  upon  all  to  go  "to  the  law  and  the 
testimony"  of  God  for  information  on  all  subjects  pertaining  to 
life  and  godliness ;  as  it  is  declared  of  those  who  speak  not  ac- 
cording to  this  word,  that  there  is  no  truth  in  them,  and  as  all 
men  are  forbidden  to  add  to  or  take  from  the  word  of  God,  it 
follows  that  all  communications  now  imparted  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  are  made  alone  through  the  word  of  truth.  But  the  doc- 
trine that  the  Holy  Spirit  communicates  the  knowledge  of  a 
call  to  the  ministry  to  all  who  are  designed  for  it,  by  an  imme- 
diate and  special  revelation,  contradicts  the  position  sustained 
by  the  passages  just  quoted,  and  can  no  more  be  established 
than  can  the  claims  of  the  enthusiasts  that  they  had  received  a 
direct  call  from  the  Spirit,  and  spake  under  an  immediate  in- 
spiration conferred  upon  them  by  God.     The  views  just  ex- 


40  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

pressed  constitute  the  legitimate  outgrowth  of  the  doctrine,  held 
by  the  Mystics,  and,  in  some  respects,  accepted  by  the  advocates 
of  the  prevalent  theory  of  a  call  to  the  ministry,  namely  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  now  makes  communications  to  the  mind  and  heart 
directly,  without  the  written  word,  and  which  necessarily  ob- 
scures the  call  to  the  ministry  and  envelopes  it  in  the  mists  of 
doubt  and  uncertainty.  In  referring  to  this,  Dr.  H.  E.  Jacobs, 
in  an  article  on  The  Lutheran  Doctrine  of  the  Ministry,  says 
\_Evangelical  Review]  :  "Wherever  the  former  mystical  theory 
(of  the  word)  is  held,  the  doctrine  of  the  call  to  the  ministry  is 
obscured.  The  individual  is  turned  away  from  the  revealed 
word  of  God,  to  search  within  himself  for  an  undefined  inner 
call.  The  candidate  must  declare,  that  he  has  been  inwardly 
moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost  to  assume  the  ofifice,  whilst  but  little 
importance  is  attached  to  any  test  whereby  a  true,  inner  call, 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  speaking  in  the  outward  words  may  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  vagaries  of  the  individual's  fancy." 

To  the  Church  the  "lively  oracles  of  God  are  given,"  and  she 
has  become  "the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth."  On  her  the 
Holy  Spirit  has  been  conferred  and  the  authority  given  to  ap- 
point and  commission  Christian  ministers  to  preach  the  Gospel, 
and  administer  the  Sacraments.  Through  the  word  preached, 
and  the  Spirit  accompanying  it,  the  different  truths  bearing  on 
the  call  to  the  ministry  are  disseminated,  a  correct  knowledge 
of  the  subject  is  obtained,  a  deep  interest  is  felt  in  it,  and  con- 
science awakens  a  sense  of  obligation  concerning  it,.culminating 
in  a  conviction  of  duty,  and  moving  the  will  to  choose  and  en- 
ter it  as  a  profession  for  life. 

But  as  the  Church  is  constituted  of  the  ministry  and  the  laity, 
and  all  are  commanded  to  become  epistles  of  truth,  the  obliga- 
tion to  make  known  the  truths  concerning  the  call  to  the  min- 
istry, rests  not  only  upon  the  clergy,  but  also  upon  parents, 
teachers,  church  officers  and  members.  And  while  preaching 
is  the  principal  agency  of  imparting  the  necessary  instruction 
concerning  the  ministry,  the  Church  is  bound  to  resort  to  all 
other  instrumentalities  of  conveying  information  about  it  such 
as  personal  conversation,  epistolary  correspondence,  the  re- 
ligious press,  and  permanent  literature.     As  the  petition,  "Thy 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  4I 

kingdom  come,"  implies  and  imposes  the  obligation  to  do  every- 
thing necessary  to  make  Christ  and  his  kingdom  known  in  all 
the  earth,  so  does  the  prayer,  "Lord  send  forth  laborers  into 
thy  vineyard,"  involve  the  duty  of  using  all  the  means  adapted 
to  induce  an  adequate  number  of  talented  and  pious  young  men 
to  respond  to  the  call  of  God  to  enter  the  ministry.  As  the 
expectation  that  the  kingdom  of  God  will  come,  through  the 
daily  repetition  of  the  prayer,  "Thy  kingdom  come,"  without 
the  use  of  means,  would  be  a  perversion  of  its  true  meaning  and 
prove  abortive ;  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  expectation  that 
an  adequate  number  of  efficient  laborers  will  be  called  into  the 
world-field  of  Christ,  by  the  repetition  of  the  prayer,  that  God 
would  call  them  forth  through  the  direct  influence  of  his  Spirit, 
without  the  use  of  the  appropriate  means  by  the  Church. 

Dr.  Phillips  Brooks,  in  his  "Lectures  on  Preaching,"  empha- 
sizes the  duty  of  exercising  greater  vigilance,  on  the  part  of  the 
Church,  in  introducing  men  into  the  ministry,  as  follows  :  "Let 
us  ask  then,  first,  what  sort  of  man  a  minister  should  be  ?  It 
would  be  good  for  the  Church,  if  it  were  a  more  common  ques- 
tion :  "Partly  because  the  motives  which  lead  a  young  man  to  the 
ministry  are  so  personal  and  spiritual,  partly  because  of  our  sense 
of  the  magnitude  and  privilege  of  the  work,  which  makes  us 
fear  to  be  the  means  of  excluding  any  worthy  man  from  it, 
partly  because,  at  present,  while  the  harvest  is  so  plenteous,  the 
laborers  are  so  very  few — for  these  and  other  reasons,  there  is 
far  too  little  discrimination  in  the  selection  of  men  who  are  to 
preach,  and  many  men  find  their  way  into  the  preacher's  office 
who  discover  only  too  late  that  it  is  not  their  place." 

In  corroboration  of  the  views  just  expressed,  we  present  the 
following  quotations :  v 

"The  certainty  of  a  call  to  the  ministry,"  says  Hollazius,  "is 
derived,  not  from  a  new,  peculiar  and  immediate  revelation  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  but  from  mediate  revelation  contained  in  holy 
Scripture.  For  Scripture  teaches  the  gift,  with  which  a  suitable 
minister  of  the  Church  should  be  endowed.  It  also  teaches  that 
the  Church  has  the  power  of  entrusting  the  holy  ministry  to 
certain  persons.  If,  therefore,  a  candidate  of  theology  knows, 
for  the  spirit  of  man  knoweth  what  is  in  man,  that  he  has  been 


42  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

divinely  furnished  with  those  gifts  which  holy  Scripture  requires 
in  a  minister  of  the  Church,  and  he  sees  at  hand,  before  his  eyes, 
a  written  call  from  any  church,  having  a  right  to  call,  he  is  cer- 
tain, without  any  new  and  immediate  revelation  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  of  his  lawful  call  to  the  ministry." 

Dr.  S.  S.  Schmucker  describes  the  internal  call  to  the  minis* 
try  as  follows  :  "The  conviction  of  the  individual,  that  God  has 
designed  him  for  this  office.  This  conviction  is  not  at  the  pres- 
ent day  produced  in  an  immediate,  extraordinary,  or  miraculous 
manner,  as  in  the  case  of  the  ancient  apostles  and  prophets. 
The  ordinary  evidences  of  a  call  are,  undoubted  piety,  at  least 
mediocrity  of  talent,  and  a  desire,  or  at  least  an  ultimate  willing- 
ness to  serve  God  in  the  ministry,  and  the  cooperation  of  divine 
providence  by  the  removal  of  all  insuperable  difficulties." — Pop- 
ular Theology. 

Dr.  H.  Ziegler  expresses  the  following  views  in  his  "Pastor :" 
"The  internal  call  consists  in  those  personal  qualifications,  which 
are  requisite  to  the  faithful  discharge  of  all  the  duties  of  the 
Christian  minister.  It  is  never  immediate  or  supernatural,  but 
always  mediate  and  ordinary." 

Vinet  in  his  Homiletics,  after  maintaining  that  no  extraordi- 
nary call,  through  the  direct  influence  of  the  Spirit,  can  now  be 
expected,  continues :  "Now,  as  the  sensible,  direct  call  from 
God  is  wanting,  by  what  can  this  be  supplied  ?  In  other  words, 
how  may  we  know  that  we  are  called  ?  *  *  The  call  to  the 
ministry  evidences  itself,  like  every  other,  by  natural  means 
under  the  direction  of  the  word  and  Spirit  of  God." 

Rev.  John  Eades,  in  exhibiting  the  process  of  mind  through 
which  the  conviction  of  a  call  to  the  ministry  is  produced,  says: 
"All  those  who  are  inwardly  called  of  God  to  the  sacred  office, 
have  laid  to  heart  the  spiritual  necessities  of  their  fellow  crea- 
tures— are  willing,  ready  and  desirous,  like  their  blessed  Lord, 
to  undertake  the  work ;  not  from  any  selfish  or  worldly  motive, 
but  from  a  principle  of  glorifying  God  in  the  conversion,  edifi- 
cation, and  salvation  of  precious  and  immortal  souls." 

Dr.  C.  P.  Krauth,  in  his  Theses  on  the  Ministry,  distinguishes 
between  the  mediate  and  immediate  call  as  follows :  "Calling 
or  vocation  is  a  sacred  act,  whereby  God  either  immediately  by 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  43 

a  direct  personal  call,  or  mediately,  through  the  Church,  sepa- 
rates and  appoints,  as  seems'good  to  him,  certain  men  to  be  his 
co-workers,  and  stewards  of  his  mysteries.  All  legitimate  call- 
ing is  either  immediate  or  mediate.  We  ought  not  now  to  ex- 
pect the  immediate  calling,  either  external,  by  some  miraculous 
act  of  God,  or  internal,  by  some  new  revelation  made  to  the 
soul  of  the  person  called.  But  no  man  should  seek  the  office 
of  the  ministry  without  a  persuasion  that  it  is  God's  will  that 
he  should  do  so.  The  mediate  calling,  legitimately  made,  is  no 
less  really  divine  than  the  immediate.  A  legitimate  mediate 
calling  is  an  act  whereby  men  whose  fitness  for  the  work  of  the 
ministry  has  been  tested  and  proved,  are  chosen  by  Christ, 
through  his  Church,  to  teach  the  Gospel  and  administer  the 
Sacraments." 

Dr.  L.  A.  Gotwald,  in  his  Holman  Lecture  on  Church  Orders, 
says  :  "As  regards  the  office  of  the  ministry,  as  well  as  all  other 
offices  in  the  Church,  these  two  points  from  the  word  of  God, 
are  clear,  viz.,  that  the  endowments  or  qualifications,  which  men 
may  possess  for  these  respective  offices,  are  the  gifts  to  them  of 
God,  and  that  these  express,  both  to  their  possessor,  and  to 
others  in  the  Church  around  him,  that  the  will  of  God  is,  that 
he  upon  whom  he  has  thus  bestowed  such  gifts,  should  exercise 
them  also,  in  the  particular  office  for  which  he  is  thus  especially 
fitted.  In  other  words,  the  divine  endowments  of  a  man  for  the 
ministerial  office  constitute  essentially  the  divine  call  also  to 
that  office  and  the  will  of  God,  that  a  man  should  be  in  the 
office,  is  expressed  by  the  peculiar  fitness  which  he  gives  him 
for  it." 

The  manner  in  which  the  conviction  of  a  call  to  the  ministry 
was  called  forth  by  the  Church  in  the  case  of  John  Knox  and 
Calvin,  against  their  own  misgivings,  illustrates  the  theory 
maintained  in  this  article.  John  Knox  was  endowed  with  such 
talents,  graces  and  attainments,  that  it  became  manifest  to  the 
Church  that  he  was  adapted  and  called  to  the  work  of  the  min- 
istry. He  was  accordingly  frequently  solicited  in  private  by  his 
brethren  to  undertake  the  work  of  preaching,  but  "had  persist- 
ently refused,  on  the  ground  that  he  had  no  talent  or  call  to 
these  sacred   functions.     His   friends,   however,   did  not  desist 


44  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

from  their  purpose,  but  having  consulted  with  their  brethren, 
came  to  a  resolution  without  his  knowledge,  that  a  call  should  be 
publicly  given  him,  in  the  name  of  the  whole  membership,  to 
become  one  of  their  ministers.  The  manner  in  which  this  de- 
termination was  carried  out,  as  stated  in  McCree's  Life  of  Knox, 
was  as  follows : 

"Accordingly,  on  a  day  fixed  for  the  purpose.  Rough  preached 
a  sermon  on  the  election  of  ministers,  in  which  he  declared 
the  power  which  a  congregation,  however  small,  had  over  any 
one  in  whom  they  perceived  gifts  suited  to  the  ofifice,  and  how 
dangerous  it  was  for  such  a  person  to  reject  the  call  of  those 
who  desired  instruction.  Sermon  being  concluded,  the  preacher 
turned  to  Knox,  who  was  present,  and  addressed  him  in  these 
words  :  'Brother  you  shall  not  be  offended,  although  I  speak 
unto  you  that  which  I  have  in  charge,  even  from  all  those  that 
are  here  present,  which  is  this  :  In  the  name  of  God  and  of  his 
Son  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  the  name  of  all  that  presently  call  you 
by  my  mouth,  I  charge  that  you  refuse  not  this  holy  vocation, 
but  as  you  desire  the  glory  of  God,  the  increase  of  Christ's 
kingdom,  the  edification  of  your  brethren,  and  the. comfort  of 
me,  whom  you  understand  well  enough  to  be  oppressed  by  the 
multitude  of  labors,  that  you  take  the  public  office  and  charge 
of  preaching,  even  as  you  look  to  avoid  God's  heavy  displeas- 
ure, and  desire  that  he  shall  multiply  his  grace  unto  you.' 

"Then  addressing  himself  to  the  congregation,  he  said  :  'Was 
not  this  your  charge  unto  me  ?  and  do  ye  not  approve  this  vo- 
cation ?'  They  all  answered  'It  was  ;  and  we  approve  it.'  Over- 
whelmed by  this  unexpected  and  solemn  charge,  Knox,  after  an 
ineffectual  attempt  to  address  the  audience  burst  into  tears, 
rushed  out  of  the  assembly  and  shut  himself  up  in  his  cham- 
ber. His  countenance  and  behavior  from  that  day  till  the  day 
that  he  was  compelled  to  present  himself  in  the  public  place  of 
preaching,  did  sufficiently  declare  the  grief  and  trouble  of  his 
heart,"  &c. 

The  case  of  Calvin  corresponds,  in  all  the  main  points,  with 
that  of  Knox.  He  was  diffident  of  his  abilities,  shrunk  from 
assuming  the  office  of  the  ministry,  and  preferred  to  remain  a 
lay  worker.     But  such  were  the  impressions  made  upon  those 


THfe  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  45 

who  attended  his  instructions,  that  they  were  convinced  that  he 
was  called  to  the  ministry,  and  he  yielded  to  their  judgment 
rather  than  his  own  preferences  in  entering  the  ministry. 

Calvin  at  Bourges  became  a  teacher  both  in  private  confer- 
ence with  inquirers  and  by  discourses  in  more  public  assem- 
blies. "Before  a  year  had  elapsed,"  he  says,  "all  who  were  de- 
sirous of  a  purer  doctrine  were  in  the  habit  of  coming  to  me 
though  a  novice  and  a  tyro,  for  the  purpose  of  learning." 

In  engaging  in  such  efforts  Calvin  seems  to  have  yielded  to  a 
constraining  sense  of  duty  rather  than  to  have  followed  the 
bias  of  his  own  inclination.  "I  always  preferred  the  shade  and 
ease  and  would  have  sought  some  hiding  place,  but  this  was 
not  permitted,  for  all  my  retreats  became  like  public  schools." 

Neither  of  these  distinguished  men  claimed  that  he  was  led 
into  the  ministry  by  an  inner  call,  but  was  rather  deterred  from 
assuming  it,  by  a  consciousness  of  their  deficiencies,  as  was  the 
case  with  Moses,  Jeremiah  and  other  prophets,  and  present 
striking  contrasts  to  those  who  insist  that  they  have  received 
an  inner,  direct  call  from  the  Spirit,  plead  that  it  was  accom- 
panied with  such  a  burning  desire  to  preach  the  Gospel,  as  to 
give  them  no  rest  until  they  resolved  to  engage  in  it.  Bishop 
Simpson,  in  his  Yale  Lectures,  maintains  that  the  hesitancy  of 
Knox  and  Calvin  are  shared  by  all  who  are  truly  called  of  God. 
"There  is  not  an  instance,"  says  he,  "in  Holy  Writ,  where  a  true 
man  was  ever  anxious  to  bear  the  divine  message.  He  always 
shrank  from  it,  hesitated  and  trembled." 

The  term  prevalent,  by  which  we. have  designated  the  theory 
we  are  combatting,  indicates  that  it  has  been  generally  accepted 
as  the  true  one  by  the  Reformed  churches.  Bishop' Simpson 
declares  that  it  is  the  theory  of  the  Universal  Church,  the  cor- 
rectness of  which  we  question,  and  over  against  which,  we  place 
the  Lutheran  theory,  as  stated  in  her  symbols  and  maintained 
by  her  dogmaticians.  The  prevalence  of  the  mystical  notion  of 
a  call  to  the  ministry  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  radical  ten- 
dency among  the  Puritans  in  their  opposition  to  Romanism,  of 
running  into  opposite  extremes.  Rome  so  emphasized  the  "let- 
ter"  in    establishing    an   outward    succession    in   the   ministry, 


V* 


46  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

thereby  ignoring  the  operations  of  the  Spirit  in  the  heart  of  be- 
lie\^ers,  while  the  Puritans  so  emphasized  the  "Spirit"  that  they 
relied  upon  the  Holy  Ghost  to  call  out  the  ministry  without  the 
use  of  the  "letter"  of  the  word  as  disseminated  by  the  Church. 
The  Anglican  by  accepting  episcopacy  from  the  Roman  Church 
became  at  the  same  time  inoculated  with  its  claim  of  the  trans- 
mission of  ministerial  grace  by  the  Spirit,  through  the  laying  on 
of  the  hands  of  the  bishops.  Accordingly  every  bishop  must 
declare,  as  a  condition  of  ordination,  that  he  was  moved  to  take 
this  office  upon  himself  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Inasmuch  as  the  Lutheran  Church  has  accepted  Prelacy,  not 
jure  divino,  hut  j'uj'c  lunnano,  in  Sweden,  Denmark  and  Norway, 
and  has  been  exposed  to  Puritanic  influences  in  this  country,  it 
would  not  be  strange  if  mystical  tendencies  should  be  developed, 
even  among  her  ministers.  The  following  may  serve  as  ex- 
amples. Although  Dr.  Schmucker  assures  us  that  an  immedi- 
ate call  in  an  extraordinary  manner  is  not  to  be  expected  now, 
nevertheless,  by  stating  that  the  call  consists  in  a  conviction  of 
the  individual  that  God  has  designed  him  for  this  ofifice,  and  that 
he  cannot  be  absolved  from  the  obligation  to  persevere  in  his 
preparation  for  it  except  by  insuperable  obstacles  placed  in  his 
way  by  Providence,  he  seems  to  contradict  himself;  and  makes  a 
vague,  if  not  a  Puritanic  impression.  Dr.  Ziegler  also  declares 
that  the  call  to  the  ministry  is  not  now  direct  and  extraordinary, 
and  yet  he  admits  that  there  are  special  cases  which  on  account 
of  some  remarkable  spiritual  manifestations  at  their  conversion, 
become  exceptions  to  those -who  have  received  the  mediate  call 
from  the  Church,  through  the  ordinary  means  of  grace,  and  re- 
fers to  Dr.  Cannon,  who  in  his  Pastoral  Theology  says :  "The 
internal  call  may  be  accompanied  with  a  power  of  the  ?Ioly 
Spirit,  and  attended  by  circumstances  and  events  in  the  lives 
and  the  conversion  of  some  minister  of  Christ,  which  when 
compared  to  those  of  the  many,  who  piously  engage  in  the 
good  service,  may  appear  to  be  extraordinary."  But  to  guard 
against  the  perversion  of  such  cases,  he  adds  :  "But  let  it  be  ob- 
served, that  whatever  is  uncommon  in  these  instances  does  not 
belong  essentially  to  the  internal  call  of  God." 

In  regard  to  the  interpretation  given  to  any  peculiar  manifes- 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  4 

tations,  claimed  to  have  been  received  from  the  Holy  Spirit  at 
the  conversion  of  an  individual,  viz,  that  they  indicate  that  he 
is  called  to  the  ministry,  it  may  suffice  to  remark  that  they  can 
not  safely  be  accepted  as  marks  of  a  call  for  which  others  are 
authorized  to  look,  and  do  not  constitute  examples  by  which 
others  ought  to  be  governed.  Extraordinary  experiences  of 
this  kind  are  the  boast  of  the  enthusiasts,  and  they  no  more 
prove  the  genuineness  of  the  conversion  of  the  subjects  of  them, 
than  that  they  establish  the  claim  of  a  call  to  the  ministry  set 
up  by  religious  pretenders.  And  as  the  pretensions  of  the  lat- 
ter when  subjected  to  the  tests  presented  by  the  Scriptures, 
prove  to  be  unfounded,  so,  too,  are  the  interpretations  of  the  ex- 
periences of  the  former,  when  weighed  in  the  balances  of  the 
word  of  God,  found  wanting. 

Dr.  H.  E.  Jacobs,  heretofore  quoted,  says :  "All  our  theolo- 
gians recoginize  a  true  movement  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the 
mind  of  the  individual  in  leading  him,  through  the  study  of  the 
outward  word,  to  the  conviction  that  it  is  his  duty  to  seek  the 
holy  office  and  quotes  the  testimony  of  Gerhard,  as  follows : 

"We  grant  that  God,  by  an  inner  impulse  and  inspiration, 
breathes  into  some  this  disposition  to  undertake  the  ministry  of 
the  Church,  without  regard  to  dangers  and  difficulties  to  which 
belongs  also  that  mysterious  impulse  by  which  some  are  drawn 
to  the  study  of  theology.  *  *  And  if  any  one  desire  to 
apply,  in  a  proper  sense,  the  name  of  secret  call,  to  these  dispo- 
sitions, both  of  which  are  especially  worthy  of  praise,  we  do  not 
greatly  object.  Yet,  in  the  meantime,  we  give  the  warning, 
that  in  order  that  the  doors  be  not  opened  to  the  disturbances 
of  the  Anabaptists  or  the  revelations  of  the  enthusiasts,  no  one, 
by  reason  of  this  secret  call,  ought  to  take  upon  himself  the 
duties  of  the  ministerial  office,  unless  there  be  added  to  it  the 
outward  and  solemn  call  of  the  Church."  This  inner  impulse 
Gerhard  afterward  declares  not  to  be  the  call,  but  "an  accident 
of  the  same,"  and  a  description  of  the  proper  disposition  or 
quality  in  the  persons  called. 

By  designating  the  operations  of  the  Spirit,  in  convincing  a 
person,  through  the  Word,  that  it  is  his  duty  to  preach  the 
Gospel,  by  the  term  call,  dividing  it  into  an  internal  and  exter- 


48  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

nal  c2l\\,  and  representing  it  as  constituted  of  divine  and  human 
factors,  as  has  been  done  by  writers  on  this  subject,  it  becomes 
almost  impossible,  so  to  distinguish  the  ordinary  call  to  the 
ministry  now,  from  the  extraordinary  call  in  apostolic  times,  as 
to  prevent  misapprehension  and  confusion. 

Illustrations  of  this  are  found  in  the  following  examples. 
Vinet,  heretofore  quoted,  says :  "The  word  call  has,  when  ap- 
plied to  professions  of  a  temporal  order,  only  a  figurative  sig- 
nification. *  *  But  applied  to  the  ministry  the  word  approaches 
its  proper  sense.  When  conscience  commands,  and  obliges  us 
to  discharge  a  certain  task,  we  have  that  which  next  to  a  mira- 
cle, merits  best  the  name  of  a  call,  and  it  must  be  nothing  less." 

Dr.  G.  Diehl,  (Diet  Lecture,  1877),  remarks:  "God,  who 
called  the  prophets  in  ways  so  manifest,  and  by  speech  so  dis- 
tinct, as  to  produce  absolute  certainty  in  their  convictions,  does 
now,  in  ways  less  marvelous,  and  circumstances  less  imposing, 
produce  a  similar  conviction  in  the  mind  of  every  man  whose 
ministry  heaven  has  authenticated."     *     * 

The  careful  reader  will  observe,  that  while  the  advocates  of 
the  prevalent  theory  have  employed  words  and  phrases  in  de- 
scribing it,  that  express  ideas  that  accord  with  the  representa- 
tions made  concerning  the  true  theory,  and  vice  versa,  that  some 
of  the  words  and  phrases  used  by  Lutheran  theologians,  in  de- 
scribing the  operations  of  the  Spirit,  in  begetting  a  call  through 
the  Word,  correspond  with  those  employed  in  setting  forth  the 
prevalent  or  mystical  theory.  This  may  be  accounted  for  from 
several  considerations.  Striking  analogies  exist  between  the 
two  theories.  Their  respective  advocates  agree  that  the  agent 
who  imparts  the  knowledge  of  a  call  is  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  the 
subject  to  whom  it  is  communicated  is  a  true  believer,  a  new 
man  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  that  the  form  in  which  it  is  developed 
in  the  consciousness,  is  that  of  a  conviction,  so  deep  as  to  bind 
the  conscience  and  lead  to  the  determination  to  enter  the  minis- 
try. The  main  point  of  difference  between  them  is  whether  the 
Holy  Spirit  imparts  a  knowledge  of  the  call  directly  to  the  soul, 
or  whether  he  does  it  mediately,  through  the  several  truths  per- 
taining to  the  ministry,  revealed  in  the  Scriptures,  and  whether 
the  individual  is  to  determine  the  question  of  his  call  from  his 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  49 

own  religious  experience,  or  from  self-examination  in  the  light 
of  the  Scriptures,  the  Counsel  of  relatives  and  Christian  friends, 
and  the  judgment  of  the  ministers  and  members  of  the  Church. 
The  subject  is  a  very  profound  one,  involving  the  manner  in 
vyhich  each  aspect  of  truth  revealed  in  the  Scriptures  concern- 
ing the  ministry  is  adapted  to  effect  the  several  faculties  of  the 
soul,  and  call  forth  in  their  combined  operations  such  a  convic- 
tion of  duty,  through  the  super-added  influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  as  constitutes  a  call  to  preach  the  Gospel,  as  well  as  the 
manner  in  which  the  same  Spirit  communicated  the  knowledge 
of  a  call  directly  to  the  apostles  and  other  ministers  in  the  apos- 
tolic churches.  To  set  this  subject  forth  in  a  consistent  and 
scriptural  manner,  requires  the  clearest  conceptions  of  every 
factor  that  enters  into  the  subject,  the  most  careful  and  rigid 
discrimination  of  the  influence  exerted  and  the  impressions 
made  by  each,  and  the  use  of  the  most  terse  and  forcible  terms 
in  describing  them.  And  as  such  insight,  power  and  discrimi- 
nation, and  felicity  of  expression,  are  not  the  gift  of  all  writers, 
such  discrepancies  and  deficiencies  as  we  have  just  noticed,  must 
be  looked  for  in  the  discussion  of  all  intricate  theological  points. 
But  we  nevertheless  insist  that  there  is  no  medium  ground  on 
which  these  opposite  theories  can  be  fully  harmonized  by  the 
introduction  of  a  third  theory,  as  a  cross  between  the  two.  The 
advocates  of  the  immediate  call  of  the  Spirit,  according  to  the 
prevalent  theory,  cannot  consistently  recognize  the  Scriptures 
as  the  test  of  verifying  it,  while  they  reject  them  as  .the  means 
of  calling  it  forth  ;  and  the  advocates  of  the  indirect  call  of  the 
Spirit,  through  the  truth,  cannot  consistently  admit  that,  in  ex- 
ceptional cases,  the  Spirit  may  now  operate  directly,  indepen- 
dent of  the  word,  in  disposing  a  soul  to  engage  in  the  work  of 
the  ministry,  without  surrendering  the  point  at  issue,  and  open- 
ing the  door  of  admission  to  the  mystics  and  enthusiasts. 

DEMITTING  THE  MINISTRY. 

In  the  Romish  hierarchy,  the  priests  constitute  a  perma- 
nent clerical  order,  none  of  whom  is  allowed  to  lay  down  his 
priesthood.  The  Church  of  England  imbibed,  with  episcopacy, 
the  Romish  idea,  that  a  clergyman  could  not  be  relieved  from 


50  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

the  sacred  functions  assumed  at  his  ordination,  and  the  British 
Parliament  passed  a  law  declaring  that  "a  priest  or  deacon  could 
not,  and  ought  not  to  divest  himself  of  his  clerical  character." 
In  1773,  Rev.  Home  Took  divested  himself  of  his  clerical  robe, 
studied  law,  but  was  refused  admission  to  the  bar.  He  was  sub- 
sequently elected  to  Parliament,  and  although  his  claim  to  a 
seat  was  at  first  resisted  on  the  ground  that  he  v;as  still  a  cler- 
gyman, he  was  afterwards  admitted.  This  case,  however,  be- 
came the  occasion  of  the  passage  of  an  act  declaring  the  ineli- 
gibility of  persons  in  his  situation.  The  Lutheran  Church,  re- 
garding the  ministry  not  as  a  clerical  order,  but  as  an  office  of 
special  service  in  the  Christian  Church,  maintains  that  should 
an  individual,  under  a  conviction  of  duty,  be  inducted  into  the 
ministry,  and  be  afterwards  providentially  prevented  from  dis- 
charging its  duties,  he  has  the  right  to  lay  down  the  office  of 
the  ministry,  and  the  body  which  invested  him  with  it  has  the 
authority  to  relieve  him  of  its  obligations,  to  divest  him  of  its 
title,  and  restore  him  to  the  position  of  a  layman  in  the  congre- 
gation. 

This  view  of  the  subject  is  based  upon  the  constitution  of  the 
Christian  Church,  whose  members  are  called  to  perform  various 
kinds  of  service  in  different  offices.  If  now  a  person  be  disa- 
bled from  performing  the  duties  of  one  office,  and  be  able  to 
perform  those  of  another,  he  has  not  only  the  right,  but  it  be- 
comes his  duty,  to  lay  down  the  one  and  assume  those  of  the 
other  office.  Philip  devoted  himself  at  first  to  the  office  of  a  dea- 
con, but  afterward  relinquished  it  and  became  an  evangelist.  If 
this  had  been  reversed,  he  would  have  had  the  right,  for  ade- 
quate reasons,  to  relinquish  the  office  of  an  evangelist  and  re- 
assume  that  of  a  deacon,  or  to  become  again  a  layman. 

This  view  of  the  office  of  the  ministry  is  a  legitimate  devel- 
opment of  the  doctrine  of  the  priesthood  of  all  believers. 
Christians  constitute  a  universal  priesthood,  each  one  of  whom 
is  endowed  with  talents  fitting  him  for  the  performance  of  some 
particular  service,  and  some  of  whom  are  qualified  and  called  to 
devote  themselves  to  the  special  work  of  the  ministry.  Should 
any  one  of  the  latter  discover,  after  a  full  trial,  that  he  has  missed 
his  caUing,  or  be  so  disabled  that  he  cannot  continue  to  preach 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  5  I 

and  administer  the  sacraments,  and  that  he  is  able  and  com- 
pelled to  engage  in  some  secular  pursuit  to  make  a  living,  he 
has  the  right  to  ask,  and  it  becomes  the  duty  of  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal body  to  which  he  belongs,  to  release  him  from  his  ordination 
vows,  which  he  cannot  meet,  and  to  allow  him  to  take  his  place 
again  among  the  common  priesthood,  and  to  perform  such  ser- 
vice as  his  gifts,  means  and  circumstances  will  permit.  The 
Lutheran  view  of  the  subject  has  made  such  progress  in  Eng- 
land that  Parliament  passed  a  law  entitled  "The  Clerical  Disa- 
bility Act,"  in  1870,  according  to  whose  provisions  any  minis- 
ter of  the  Church  of  England  may  resign  his  preferment,  and 
resume  again  the  position  of  a  layman. 

The  following  incident,  narrated  by  Dr.  Thomas  Guthrie  in 
his  Sunday  Magazine,  must  have  occurred  at  the  time  when 
this  act  was  under  consideration,  and  comes  in  point  in  this  dis- 
cussion : 

"In  making  statements  against  the  retention  in  the  ministry 
of  those  who  a;jp  unfitted  for  it,  at  a  dinner  table  where  a  bishop 
was  present,  I  was  met  by  one  appealing  to  him  how  that  could 
be,  seeing  that  every  candidate  for  holy  orders,  in  seeking  them, 
declared  himself  to  be  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost?  An  objec- 
tion to  the  bill  brought  into  the  House  of  Lords  for  allowing 
clergymen  of  the  English  Church  to  demit  their  office  and  loose 
themselves  of  their  ordination  vows,  which  I  met  with  was 
this,  namely,  that  such  candidates  must  have  been  mistaken, 
since  God  never  calls  a  man  by  his  Spirit  to  any  office  for  which 
he  is  not  fit." 

In  the  United  States  a  similar  change  of  opinion  and  practice 
has  been  inaugurated.  About  twenty  years  ago,  a  Methodist 
bishop  in  the  South  asked  to  lay  down  his  bishopric,  and  after  a 
full  discussion  of  the  subject,  his  request  was  granted  by  the 
House  of  Bishops.  Consistency  with  the  views  of  the  Luth- 
eran Church  on  the  call  to  the  ministry,  demands  that  she  should, 
under  similar  circumstances,  take  the  same  course.  Accordingly, 
the  Ministerium  of  Pennsylvania,  at  its  annual  session  in  1870, 
relieved  one  of  its  members  of  the  clerical  office,  and  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Synod  did  the  same  at  its  meeting  in  the  fall  of 
the  same  year.     And  several  similar  cases  have  occurred  since. 


52  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

The  right  to  abdicate  the  ministerial  office  ought  not,  however, 
to  be  exercised  at  random  or  from  caprice,  nor  granted  without 
good  and  sufficient  reasons.  Men  called  to  devote  themselves 
to  pursuits  cognate  to  those  of  the  ministry,  such  as  teachers, 
professors  and  editors,  may  consistently  continue  in  the  minis- 
terial profession.  But  when  a  man,  in  his  youth  or  the  prime 
of  life  is  disabled  from  discharging  the  duties  of  the  ministry, 
and  is  necessitated  and  able  to  prosecute  some  secular  calling 
for  life,  it  becomes  his  duty  to  ask,  and  that  of  the  synod  to 
grant  him,  the  privilege  of  demitting  his  office.  But  should  a 
minister  not  thus  disabled,  from  choice  and  worldly  motives,  de- 
vote himself  to  business  for  life,  he  would  prostitute  the  holy 
office,  imitate  the  e.Kample  of  Demas,  if  not  of  Judas,  and,  should 
he  not  voluntarily  demit  the  ministry,  ought  to  be  divested  of 
its  name  and  functions. 

The  opposite  view  is  as  unreasonable  as  it  is  unscriptural. 
It  compels  a  man  to  bear  a  name  which  becomes  a  misnomer, 
and  to  retain  an  office,  with  its  solemn  respon^bilities,  whose 
duties  he  knows  he  can  never  again  perform.  It  exposes  him, 
in  some  degree  at  least,  among  those  ignorant  of  his  disability, 
to  the  odium  that  attaches  to  a  clergyman  who  abandons  the 
ministry  for  the  sake  of  filthy  lucre,  and  even  prevents  his  high- 
est usefulness  as  a  layman.  Hence  the  ministerial  office  becomes 
to  him  a  sinecure,  its  name  an  unmeaning  sound,  its  solemn  vows 
a  disturber  of  his  conscience,  and  its  ecclesiastical  relations  and 
duties  a  serious  inconvenience,  if  not  an  oppressive  burden. 

STATISTICS  SHOWING  THE  PRACTICAL  WORKING    OF   BOTH    SYSTEMS. 

As  a  tree  is  kn'own  by  its  fruits,  the  respective  character  of 
the  two  theories  we  are  contrasting  will  become  manifest  by  a 
comparison  of  their  results.  The  subjoined  statistics  setting 
forth  the  proportion  of  the  number  of  ministers  to  the  number 
of  the  communicants  in  the  Presbyterian,  Congregational  and 
Unitarian  denominations,  as  well  as  those  of  the  Lutheran 
Church,  reveal  the  legitimate  results  of  both  systems,  and  con- 
stitute a  practical  balance  in  which  they  may  be  duly  weighed. 

Dr.  Herrick  Johnson,  in  his  sermon  as  Moderator  of  the  last 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  said  :     "We  are 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  53 

threatened  with  a  famine  of  the  ministry.  We  have  5,744 
churches,  and,  take  eveTy  pastor,  stated  supply,  home  and  for- 
eign missionary  now  in  the  field,  and  there  are  yet  2,000  churches 
uncared  for.  Add  all  the  retired  ministers,  presidents,  profess- 
ors, teachers,  editors,  etc.,  and  there  are  still  601  churches  with- 
out a  shepherd.  In  the  last  ten  years  one-third  of  the  increase 
in  our  ministry  has  been  due  to  accessions  from  other  denom- 
inations. We  are  making  less  ministers  than  we  made  ten  years 
ago.  The  Church  is  losing  her  grip  on  the  Christian  colleges  as 
nurseries  of  ministerial  candidates. 

"What  is  the  cause  of  the  steadily  lessening  number  of  min- 
isterial candidates?  It  is  not  the  trials  of  the  ministry,  nor  its 
inadequate  support ;  not  the  inducement  of  brilliant  prospects 
in  other  callings,  nor  the  intellectual  demands  made  upon  the 
ministry;  not  the  lack  of  adequate  provision  on  the  part  of  our 
Church  for  collegiate  education,  nor  chiefly  the  lack  of  general 
Christian  conversation.  It  is  still  the  same  peril  I  have  talked 
of — the  peril  o[  truth's  perversion,  of  losing  the  spirit  in  the 
form." 

The  Interior  published  Dr.  Johnson's  sermon,  accompanied 
with  the  following  significant  comments  and  portentous  facts 
and  figures : 

"We  are  losing  ground.  For  ten  years  we  have  almost 
every  year  declined  from  the  record  of  the  preceding  year  in 
number  of  candidates  for  the  ministry. 

"Comparing  the  colleges  for  the  past  ten  years  presents  a  most 
discouraging  exhibit.  The  number  of  graduates  is  increasing, 
but  steadily  the  number  of  those  who  look  toward  the  ministry 
is  decreasing. 

"But  the  most  astounding  facts  come  into  view  in  comparing 
the  number  of  candidates  for  the  ministry  from  the  different 
sections  of  the  church.  Thus  in  the  southern  section,  where 
are  the  colored  churches  under  the  care  of  the  Freedmen's 
Board,  and  in  the  fo'reign  field  together,  there  is  one  candidate 
to  every  two  hundred  and  fifteen  communicants ;  in  the  western 
section  of  the  country  there  is  one  to  every  nine  hundred  and 
sixty-six  ;  and  in  the  eastern  section  one  to  every  twelve  hun- 
dred  and  fourteen.     That  is  to  say,  the  colored  churches  and 


54  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

the  foreign  mission  cliurches  furnish  nearly  twenty  per  cent,  of 
the  ministers ;  while  in  the  old  Presbyterian  centers,  with  more 
than  a  hundred  years  of  Presbyterian  history,  and  a  handy  sup- 
ply of  the  very  best  schools  and  colleges,  the  number  of  candi- 
dates is  alarmingly  small,  and  steadily  decreasing.  Brooklyn 
Presbytery,  with  almost  twelve  thousand  communicants,  has 
only  two  candidates.  Erie,  with  nearly  eight  thousand,  has  not 
one  candidate  on  the  way  to  the  ministry  ;  and  the  whole  Synod 
of  Michigan,  outside  of  Detroit,  with  more  than  ten  thousand 
communicants,  has  only  one  candidate." 

A  writer  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  on  "The  Decline  of  Con- 
gregationalism," shows  that  while  the  population  of  the  United 
States  has  increased  twelve  millions  or  thirty-three  and  a  third 
per  cent.,  the  Congregational  Church  has  not  kept  pace  with 
this  ratio,  having  increased  only  twenty-three  per  cent.,  or  two 
and  three-tenths  per  cent,  per  annum,  while  some  of  the  other 
Protestant  churches  have  increased  more  than  twice  as  much 
proportionally  as  the  population  of  this  country,  and  we  might 
add,  that  in  this  respect  the  Lutheran  Church  excels  them  all, 
having  increased  during  the  last  decade  nearly  one  hundred  per 
cent.  And  that  the  proportionate  decline  in  the  membership 
of  the  Congregational  Church  indicates  a  corresponding  decline 
in  her  candidates  for  the  ministry,  is  evident  from  the  gradual 
decrease  of  their  number  in  the  graduating  classes  of  Yale,  and 
the  conclusion  is  that  this  decline  is  general  as  given  in  the  fol- 
lowing extract  from  the  New  York  Observer : 

"Of  eighty-five  professors  of  religion  in  the  last  graduating 
class  at  Yale — there  were  in  all  149 — only  five  express  an  in- 
tention to  study  for  the  ministry.  This  is  a  very  small  number. 
Does  it  not  indicate  on  the  part  of  young  educated  men,  a  de- 
cline of  interest  in  the  ministerial  profession  ?  It  is  far  below 
the  average  of  former  years,  especially  the  early  years  of  Ameri- 
can colleges.  We  fear  that  the  decline  is  general,  and  it  is  time 
to  ask  the  reason  for  it." 

Nor  is  this  decrease  in  the  ministry  confined  to  the  orthodox 
churches,  but  exists  in  a  still  greater  degree  among  the  Unitar- 
ians, as  indicated  by  the  following  statements  made  by  a  candi- 
date for  the  ministry  in  Harvard : 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  55 

"The  decrease  in  the  number  of  students  who  study  for  the 
ministry  is  very  marked.  It  seems  strange  that  out  of  so  many 
young  men,  representing  all  classes  of  society,  and  every  shade 
of  belief  or  unbelief,  so  few  choose  the  work  of  advancing  the 
kingdom  of  God.  Nothing  can  show  the  steady  decrease  so 
forcibly  as  a  few  figures.  Between  1642  and  1650,  53  per  cent, 
of  the  graduates  entered  the  ministry.  Between  1861  and  1870, 
7  per  cent.  Down  to  1701  the  per  cent,  of  graduates  entering 
the  ministry  was  52.  In  the  eighteenth  century  it  was  29  per 
cent.  In  the  first  seven  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century  it 
was  1 1  per  cent.  During  the  last  ten  years  only  4  per  cent, 
have  chosen  the  profession  which  we  have  in  view.  In  my 
class  there  were  seven  out  of  177  graduates.  Here  is  a  falling 
off  in  a  ratio  of  13  to  i  in  two  hundred  years." 

While  America  is  threatened  with  a  famine  in  the  ministry, 
Germany  has  been  favored  with  a  special  ingathering.  With 
the  recent  revival  of  orthodoxy  and  evangelical  piety,  the  num- 
ber of  candidates  has  greatly  increased.  In  verification  of  this 
gratifying  fact,  we  quote  the  following  testimony,  taken  from 
the  Sunday-School  Tunes  of  July  7th  : 

"Now  when  the  cry  is  going  up  from  the  theological  seminar- 
ies of  the  various  denominations  in  America,  that  the  supply  of 
ministers  is  falling  short  of  the  enlarged  demand  here,  and  that 
even  a  smaller  proportion  of  college  graduates  than  formerly 
is  entering  the  ministerial  profession,  it  is  encouraging  to  look 
away  to  what  has  happened  in  Germany,  and  what  is  now  hap- 
pening there.  Germany  has  already  passed  through  that  state 
of  spiritual  dearth  wliich  many  are  now  fearing  for  this  country. 
There  was  a  time  when  the  cause  of  Christianity  seemed  to  the 
fearful  to  be  almost  lost  in  Germany.  But  within  the  past  few 
years  a  change  for  the  better  has  showed  itself.  Sunday-schools 
are  spreading  ;  the  cities  are  being  stirred  by  evangelistic  move- 
ments; and  the  study  of  theology  is  once  more  attracting  the 
more  scholarly  youth  of  Germany.  Since  1876,  the  number  of 
theological  students  in  the  nine  Prussian  universities  has  more 
than  doubled.  Great  as  this  increase  is,  it  seems  all  the  greater 
when  compared  with  the  increase  in  other  than  the  theological 
faculties.     The  number  of  students  of  philosophy,  and  of  law. 


56  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

in  the  Prussian  universities,  increased  last  year  less  than  two 
per  cent,  each  ;  and  of  medicine,  less  than  fifteen  per  cent. ; 
while  the  students  of  Roman  Catholic  theology  increased  in 
number  nearly  ten  per  cent,  and  those  of  Protestant  theology 
more  than  twenty-one  per  cent.  These  figures  would  certainly 
seem  to  show  a  return  towards  Christianity  on  the  part  of  Ger- 
man students;  and  they  certainly  mark  a  new  stirring  of  the 
spiritual  life  among  the  people.  If  it  be  true,  as  has  been 
claimed,  that  we  haVe  latterly  taken  our  fashions  in  skepticism 
and  in  theology  from  Germany,  and  that  the  present  relative 
falling  off  in  the  number  of  theological  students  is  due  to  the 
influence  of  that  form  of  skepticism  which  is  now  going  to 
pieces  in  the  country  that  gave  it  birth,  what  may  we  not  look 
for  in  the  near  future,  now  that  Germany  is  setting  us  a  better 
fashion  in  the  way  in  which  the  higher  class  of  young  men  are 
there  pressing  forward  into  the  ministry  of  the  Christian  Church." 
The  following  are  the  statistics  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in 
this  country  showing  the  number  of  candidates  for  the  ministry 
in  her  principal  Theological  Seminaries  and  Colleges. 

GENERAL  SYNOD  NORTH. 

In  the  eight  district  synods  represented  in  the  Theological 
Seminary  at  Gettysburg  there  are  86,039  members.  The  num. 
ber  of  students  in  the  seminary,  from  these  synods,  is  26,  and 
from  other  sections  of  the  Church  11,  an  aggregate  of  37,  of 
whom  17  are  beneficiaries.  During  the  last  ten  years,  the  aver- 
age number  of  theological  students  entering  and  leaving  the 
seminary  is  about  1 1,  an  aggregate  of  1 10. 

In  the  regular  classes  of  Pennsylvania  College  at  Gettysburg, 
there  are  107  students,  of  whom  47  are  candidates  for  the  min- 
istry, which  with  2  in  the  preparatory  department,  makes  an 
aggregate  of  49. 

In  the  Theological  Department  of  the  Missionary  Institute, 
at  Selinsgrove,  Pa.,  there  are  13  students,  of  whom  6  receive  aid 
from  the  Church;  and  in  the  Classical  Department  there  are  15 
with  the  ministry  in  view.  The  number  of  ministers  sent  forth 
from  the  institution  during  the  last  ten  years  is  47,  of  whom  30 
were  beneficiaries. 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  ML\ISTRY.  57 

The  number  of  communicants  in  the  three  synods  in  the  States 
of  New  York  and  New  Jersey  is  15,139.  At  Hartwick  Semi- 
nary, there  are  5  students  in  the  theological  and  7  in  the  pre- 
paratory department,  who  intend  studying  for  the  ministry. 
Since  1876,  6  have  entered  the  ministry,  and  2  more  will  com- 
plete their  course  this  year. 

The  number  of  members  in  the  five  synods  supporting  Wit- 
tenberg College  is  19,606.  The  number  of  students  in  the  the- 
ological department  of  Wittenberg  College  is  7,  and  the  num- 
ber sent  forth  during  the  last  ten  years  is  60.  In  the  collegiate 
department  there  are  about  30  students  who  have  resolved  to 
prepare  themselves  for  the  ministry,  a  total  of  37. 

There  are  six  Lutheran  synods  in  connection  with  Carthage 
College,  Illinois,  containing  9,261  members.  During  the  last 
ten  years,  5  young  men  from  these  synods  have  entered  the 
Lutheran  ministry,  and  2  that  of  other  denominations,  and  there 
were  5  students  in  Carthage  College  in  1882-3  who  were  can- 
didates for  the  ministry,  out  of  26  in  the  classical  department,  3 
of  whom  were  beneficiaries. 

GENERAL  SYNOD  SOUTH. 

The  General  Synod  South  numbers  about  18,000  members. 
All  its  district  synods  are  formally  pledged  to  the  support  of 
the  Theological  Seminary  at  Salem,  Va.  There  are  10  students 
in  the  seminary,  of  whom  8  are  beneficiaries^  The  number  of 
theological  students  that  have  entered  the  seminary,  since  its 
removal  to  Salem,  ten  years  ago,  is  54.  Of  the  100  students  in 
the  regular  classes  of  Roanoke  College,  13  have  the  ministry 
in  view.  In  Newberry  College,  Newberry,  S.  C,  there  are  8 
candidates  for  the  ministry  out  of  25  students  in  the  college 
classes. 

GENERAL  COUNCIL. 

The  number  of  communicants  in  the  General  Council  is  196,- 
948.  There  are  at  present  52  students  in  the  Theological  Sem- 
inary in  Philadelphia.  During  tiie  last  ten  years  there  were 
graduated  from  this  institution  148,  and  hospitants  (students 
taking  an  elective  course,  but  not  matriculated),  18.  During 
the  last   five  years  the  Pennsylvania  Synod  supported  54  stu- 


58  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

dents  in  the  Seminary  in  Philadelphia  and  72  in  Muhlenberg 
College,  a  total  of  126 — or  an  average  of  about  25  a  year. 

In  the  regular  classes  of  Muhlenberg  College  there  are  74 
students,  39  of  whom  propose  to  devote  themselves  to  the  min- 
istry.    Thereare  also  4  in  the  preparatory,  making  43  in  all. 

Thiel  College  Greenville,  Pa.,  has,  since  its  organization  thir- 
teen years  ago,  furnished  25  ministers,  and  has  12  theological 
students  in  the  Philadelphia  Seminary.  There  are  at  present 
30  candidates  for  the  ministry  in  the  institution.  In  the  col- 
lege classes  there  are  43  young  men,  23  of  whom  are  candidates 
for  the  ministry,  14  being  self-supporting  and  9  beneficiaries. 
There  are  12  candidates  in  the  preparatory  department,  9  of 
whom  are  self-supporting  and  3  beneficiaries. 

The  Swedish  Augustana  Synod  numbers  50,991  communi- 
cants. There  are  in  the  theological  department  of  Augustana 
College,  at  Rock  Island,  111.,  35  students,  and  in  the  collegiate 
department  there  are  80  students,  50  of  whom  are  designed  for 
the  ministry.  These  all  are  supported  by  supplies  and  contri- 
butions from  the  congregations.  During  the  last  ten  years  103 
candidates  have  been  educated  and  ordained  by  the  synod. 

INDEPENDENT  SYNODS. 

The  Joint  Synod  of  Ohio  has  50,600  members.  There  are 
39  students  in  its  Theological  Seminary,  at  Columbus,  O.,  about 
two-thirds  of  whom  receive  support  from  the  churches,  and  90 
ministers  have  been  sent  forth  from  it  during  the  last  ten  years. 
In  Capital  University  there  are  41  students  in  the  college  classes, 
four-fifths  of  whom  have  the  ministry  in  view. 

The  German  Synod  of  Iowa  has  25,000  members.  Thereare 
in  the  theological  department  of  Mendota  College  59  students, 
all  of  whom,  with  rare  exceptions,  receive  aid  from  the  congre- 
gations, and  17  in  the  gymnasium,  nearly  all  of  whom  are  pre- 
paring for  the  study  of  theology.  As  the  number  of  candidates 
for  the  ministry  furnished  by  the  congregations  of  the  synod,  is 
not  adequate  to  provide  them  with  pastors,  from  six  to  ten 
young  men,  in  various  stages  of  preparation  for  the  ministry,  in 
the  gymnasia  and  theological  institutions  in  Germany,  are  sent 
to  Mendota,  where  they  complete  their  studies  and  enter  the 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  59 

mission  field  of  the  synod,  mostly  in  the  northwest.  Nor  is 
this  all.  The  Lutherans  in  Germany,  with  whom  the  Iowa 
Synod  keeps  up  an  ecclesiastical  correspondence,  not  only  fur- 
nish young  men,  but  also  provide  the  means  to  sustain  them, 
and  one-third  of  the  students  in  the  seminary  are  supported 
from  the  beneficiary  treasury  of  Mecklenburg  and  the  contribu- 
tions of  a  few  other  congregations. 

THE  JOINT  SYNOD  OF  MISSOURI. 

The  Missouri  Synod  has  185,000  members.  In  its  principal 
Theological  Seminary,  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  there  are  105  students, 
two-thirds  of  whom  are  sustained  by  their  parents  or  friends, 
one-sixth  by  the  congregations  from  which  they  come,  and  one- 
sixth  from  a  common  beneficiary  treasury.  At  their  Pro-Theo- 
logical Seminary,  at  Springfield,  111.,  there  are  184  students.  In 
the  Gymnasium  (College),  at  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.,  there  are  about 
200  students.  In  the  five  Pro-Gymnasia,  or  College  Institutes, 
there  are  I14  students,  preparing  for  admission  into  the  Gym- 
nasium, at  Fort  Wayne.  All  the  students  last  mentioned, 
whether  pursuing  the  regular  course  in  college  or  preparing  for 
it  in  the  collegiate  institutes,  are,  with  here  and  there  an  excep- 
tion, preparing  for  the  ministry.  In  their  Teachers'  Seminaries, 
or  Normal  Schools,  there  are  156  students,  preparing  them- 
selves as  teachers  in  the  parochial  schools  of  the  congregations. 
These  students  also  study  theology  to  some  extent,  and  are 
thoroughly  drilled  in  Dietrich's  Catechism,  the  confessions  of 
our  church,  etc.,  and  are  pledged  to  the.se  confessions  in  the  call 
extended  to  them,  and  are  thus  fitted  to  give  proper  instruction 
in  the  catechism,  Bible  history,  and  kindred  subjects.  The  sum- 
mary of  these  statistics  is  as  follows  :  Theological  students,  289  ; 
candidates  for  the  ministry  in  course  of  preparation,  314;  total, 
603  ;  students  in  Teachers'  Seminaries,  156;  grand  total,  759. 

The  statistics  above  given,  furnish  the  data  for  the  following 
comparative  statements,  showing  that,  other  things  being  equal, 
just  in  proportion  as  the  true,  or  Lutheran  theory  of  a  call  to 
the  ministry,  has  been  adopted,  and  the  Lutheran  methods  to 
develop  it  have  been  carried  out  in  the  family,  the  parochial 
school,  the  catechetical  class,  and  the  congregation,  in  that  pro- 


6o  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY, 

portion,  has  the  number  of  the  candidates  for  the  ministry  been 
increased,  and  just  in  proportion  as  the  prevalent  theory  has 
been  adopted,  and  the  Lutheran  view  and  methods  abandoned, 
in  that  proportion  has  the  number  of  candidates  for  the  ministry 
decreased. 

The  General  Synod  North  has  130,000  communicants,  and 
168  candidates  for  the  ministry  in  its  institutions,  being  i  for 
every  774  communicants. 

The  General  Council,  excluding  the  Augustana  Synod,  has 
145,957  communicants  and  130  candidates,  being  i  for  every 
1,123  communicants. 

The  Swedish  Augustana  Synod  of  the  General  Council  has 
50,991  communicants  and  85  candidates,  being  i  for  every  600 
communicants. 

The  General  Synod  South  has  18,000  communicants  and  31 
candidates,  being  i  in  every  581. 

The  Joint  Synod  of  Ohio  has  50,600  communicants  and  71 
candidates,  being  i  for  every  713. 

The  German  Synod  of  Iowa  has  25,000  communicants  and  y6 
candidates,  being  i  for  every  330. 

The  Missouri  Synod  has  185,000  communicants  and  603  can- 
didates, being  i  for  every  307  communicants. 

The  aggregate  number  of  communicants  in  the  synods  named 
above  is  605,548,  and  the  number  of  candidates  for  the  ministry 
1,164,  oi*  about  I  for  every  520  communicants,  revealing  the 
fact  that  the  three  European  Synods — the  Swedish  Augustana, 
the  German  Synod  of  Iowa,  and  the  Missouri  Synod — with 
260,991  communicants,  have  764  candidates,  being  i  for  every 
342  communicants;  and  that  the  American  Synods — the  Gen- 
eral Synods  North  and  South,  the  General  Council  and  the 
Joint  Synod  of  Ohio — with  344,557  members,  have  400  candi- 
dates, or  one  for  every  861  communicants;  and  that  the  Mis- 
souri Synod,  with  185,000  communicants,  has  more  candidates 
for  the  ministry  than  the  General  Synod  North  and  South,  the 
General  Council,  the  Joint  Synod  of  Ohio,  and  the  German 
Synod  of  Iowa  combined,  with  420,548  communicants. 

The  following  comparative  statements  of  the  number  of  min- 
isters sent  out  by  the  Lutheran  ecclesiastical  bodies  mentioned 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  6l 

above,  during  the  last  ten  years,  exhibits  about  the  same  rela- 
tive proportion. 

The  General  Synod  North  has  sent  forth  from  its  institutions, 
during  the  last  ten  years,  228  ministers,  being  one  annually 
for  every  5700  communicants. 

The  General  Council,  not  including  the  Swedish  Augustana 
Synod,  has  sent  out  during  the  same  time  251,  being  one  annu- 
ally for  every  7850. 

The  Swedish  Augustana  Synod  has  sent  out  103,  being  one 
annually  for  every  4950. 

The  General  Synod  South  has  sent  out  54,  being  one  annually 
for  every  3330. 

The  Joint  Synod  of  Ohio  has  sent  out  90,  being  one  annually 
for  every  7850. 

The  German  Synod  of  Iowa  has  sent  out  70,  being  one  an- 
nually for  every  3570. 

The  Missouri  Synod  has  sent  out  about  500,  being  one  an- 
nually for  every  3700. 

In  corroboration  of  the  statements  just  made,  we  present  the 
following  survey  of  the  views  and  practices,  prevalent  in  the 
different  Lutheran  ecclesiastical  bodies  in  the  United  States. 

The  General  Synod,  the  oldest  of  the  Lutheran  general  bod- 
ies in  America,  has  generally  adopted  the  prevalent  theory,  and 
its  practice  has  been  governed  by  it.  Its  results  in  the  States 
of  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  Prof.  James  Pitcher,  Principal  of 
the  Classical  Department  of  Hartwick  Seminary,  describes  as 
follows : 

"In  1876-7,  there  was  but  one  young  man  from  the  synods  in 
the  states  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey  studying  for  the  min- 
istry, and  he  was  in  Pennsylvania  College,  at  Gettysburg,  and 
has  since  taken  a  theological  course  and  is  now  in  the  ministry. 
In  1878-9  there  were  4  students  having  the  ministry  in  view  at 
Hartwick  Seminary;  in  1879-80,  there  were  1 1  ;  in  1880-81, 
there  were  15  ;  in  188 1-2,  there  were  but  12  ;  and  this  number 
has  been  maintained  in  the  last  two  years.  There  are  at  pres- 
ent 3  candidates  for  the  ministry  from  the  State  of  New  York, 
studying  in  other  literary  and  theological  institutions." 


62  '  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

In  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland,  Ohio  and  the  adjacent  States, 
under  the  direct  influence  of  Pennsylvania  College  and  the  The- 
ological Seminary,  the  Missionary  Institute  and  V/ittenberg 
College,  the  best  showing  in  that  body  is  presented  ;  while  in 
the  far  West,  on  the  territory  of  Carthage  College,  a  more  dis- 
couraging exhibit  is  made. 

In  the  English  and  Pennsylvania  German  churches  of  the 
General  Council  the  prevalent  theory  has  also  held  the  sway, 
but  the  Lutheran  theory  is  dominant  in  its  German  and  Scandi- 
navian churches;  and  while  their  influence,  in  this  respect,  is 
making  itself  felt  in  the  English  churches,  its  ministerial  statis- 
tics indicate  a  marked  and  hopeful  advance.  And  in  this  re- 
spect, Thiel  College,  although  but  thirteen  years  old,  presents  a 
remarkable  ministerial  record,  which  stands  in  striking  contrast 
with  that  of  Carthage  College,  only  a  few  years  younger. 

Scandinavian  and  German  Lutheran  bodies  in  this  country- 
have  generally  not  only  adopted  the  Lutheran  theory,  but  also 
developed  it  by  Lutheran  methods.  The  Swedish  Augustana 
Synod  is  a  fair  representative  of  the  views  and  practices  that 
prevail  among  the  Swedes  and  Norwegians.  Dr.  Hasselquist, 
President  of  Augustana  College  and  Seminary,  Rock  Island,  Ills., 
furnished  us  the  data  for  the  following  statements. 

Among  the  pious  Scandinavian  Lutheran  families,  many  par- 
ents are  desirous  that  at  least  one  of  their  sons  shall  serve  the 
Lord  in  his  vineyard,  and  when  they  see  such  talents  in  them 
as  would  fit  them  for  the  ministry,  they  encourage  them  to 
study,  in  order  that  they  may  discover  the  will  of  God  concern- 
ing them.  Teachers  of  the  parochial  schools  pursue  a  similar 
course  with  talented  boys,  and  pastors  do  the  same  with  their 
catechumens  ;  and  on  this  wise  natural  and  spiritual  traits,  con- 
stituting the  marks  of  a  call  to  the  ministry,  are  discerned  in 
the  boys  and  nurtured  in  the  young  men,  culminating  in  a  con- 
viction that  they  are  called  to  the  ministry,  and  are  sent  forth 
approved  by  parents,  teachers  and  pastors. 

Dr.  Sigmund  Fritschel,  President  of  Mendota  College  and 
Seminary,  Illinois,  gave  us  an  interesting  account  of  the  opera- 
tions of  the  German  Lutheran  Synod  of  Iowa,  from  which  we 
present  the  following  digest ; 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  63 

It  is  imposed  upon  pastors  by  the  synod,  as  a  duty,  to  look 
out  for  talented  and  pious  young  men,  giving  promise  of  adap- 
tation for  the  ministry,  to  confer  with  their  parents  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  to  see  to  it,  that  they  be  sent  to  the  College  at  Men- 
dota.  The  younger  boys  of  this  class  are  first  sent  to  the  Teach- 
ers' Seminary,  at  Beverly,  la.,  where  they  are  taught  the  rudi- 
ments of  an  education,  and  such  as  develop  the  necessary  traits 
of  mind  and  heart,  and  are  then  sent  to  the  college  and  semi- 
nary, at  Mendota.  Pious  German  Lutheran  parents  appreciate 
the  ministry,  and  are  gratified  when  one  or  more  of  their  sons 
are  deemed  worthy  to  enter  it,  and  such  as  are  able,  cheerfully 
support  them  during  their  preparatory  studies.  The  parochial 
school,  with  its  educated  Christian  teacher  and  positive  religious 
instruction  in  the  catechism  and  the  Scriptures,  is  also  brought 
into  requisition,  in  discovering  the  elect  sons  of  the  congrega- 
tion and  pointing  them  out  to  the  pastors,  who,  through  a  thor- 
ough course  of  catechetical  instruction,  are  able  to  test  both 
their  talents  and  their  piety,  and  to  assist  them  in  coming  to  a 
just  conclusion  concerning  their  call  to  the  ministry  as  a  pro- 
fession for  life. 

The  Missouri  Syn6d  is  the  largest  and  wealthiest  among  our 
German  ecclesiastical  bodies.  It  has  adopted  and  carried  out 
in  the  most  rigid  manner  and  to  the  greatest  extent  the  Luth- 
eran theory  of  the  ministry,  and  both  the  number  and  the  char- 
acter of  the  ministers  they  are  calling  out  and  educating,  chal- 
lenge special  attention. 

The  teachers  of  the  parochial  schools  have  the  best  oppor- 
tunity of  finding  out  the  most  promising  boys,  and  of  calling 
their  attention  to  the  work  of  the  ministry.  They  also  confer 
with  their  parents  on  the  subject,  and  encourage  them  to  edu- 
cate them  for  the  holy  ofifice.  The  general  result  of  this  whole 
system  of  religious  training  in  the  family,  the  catechetical  class 
and  the  parochial  school,  in  its  bearing  on  the  call  to  the  min- 
istry, is  thus  described  by  Rev.  H.  Walker,  pastor  of  St.  John's 
German  Lutheran  church,  York,  Pa.,  to'  whose  kind  offices  we 
are  indebted  for  the  statistics  heretofore  given  and  the  facts  sta- 
ted above.  "Although  now  and  then,"  says  he,  "a  boy  does 
not  turn  out  as  well  as  was  expected,  and  must,  therefore,  be 


64  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

dismissed  from  the  institution,  yet,  as  a  rule,  they  come  up  fully 
to  our  expectations  and  hopes,  and,  by  the  grace  of  God,  be- 
come well  educated,  faithful  ministers  and  teachers  in  church 
and  school." 

The  subjoined  extract  from  a  letter  written  by  Dr.  S.  A.  Re- 
pass, Professor  in  the  Southern  Theological  Seminary,  after  a 
conversation  had  with  him  in  Virginia  last  summer  reveals  the 
true  state  of  things  in  the  Southern  churches,  and  abounds  with 
such  judicious  reflections  that  we  present  them  as  the  results  of 
his  experience  and  observation  for  many  years : 

The  points  in^the  conversation  which  you  desired  noted  were 
these  :  The  small  munber  of  yming  men  preparing  for  the  min- 
istry, and  tl{e  cause  of  this.  As  to  the  first,  I  had  stated  that 
from  one  of  the  largest  synods  in  our  Southern  Church  only 
one  student  was  in  the  Seminary  at  Salem  during  the  past  year, 
and  one  at  Gettysburg  ;  that  I  could  not  at  that  time  recall  any 
in  our  college  who  were  preparing  for  the  holy  office  ;  that  from 
another  synod  there  would  be  no  representation  the  coming 
session,  and  perhaps  none  the  session  of '84-85.  •  In  another 
of  our  synods  only  one  student  has  been  in  the  seminary  here — 
and  none  elsewhere — since  it  was  transferred,  a  period  of  ten 
years,  although  from  this  same  synod  come  frequent  appeals 
for  men.  The  same  might  be  said,  with  very  few  exceptions,  of 
our  Church  in  general  in  the  South.  Appalling  as  these  state- 
ments are,  they  apply,  according  to  your  own  confession,  to  the 
Lutheran  Church  in  other  portions  of  the  country.  In  fact,  as 
large  a  proportion,  perhaps  somewhat  larger,  extending  the 
comparison  over  several  years,  enter  the  ministry  from  our 
Southern  Church  as  from  any  of  the  English  portion  of  the 
Church  North.  But  we  can  find  no  comfort  in  such  statistics. 
Rather  does  the  comparison  increase  our  shame,  in  view  of  the 
fact  of  the  destitution  facing  us  everywhere. 

We  spoke  also  of  the  cause  of  this  state  of  things.  There 
must  be  something  radically  wrong  in  the  system,  or  the  one 
now  in  operation  is  miserably  worked.  That  a  congregation 
fifty  or  seventy-five  years  old  should  in  all  that  time  furnish  no 
candidates — and  we  know  of  some  such — cannot  be  according 
to  the  will  of  God,  except,  indeed,  we  interpret  that  will  as  a 


p- 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  65 


judgment.  The  opinion  was  confidently  expressed  that  there  is 
and  has  been  most  culcable  neglect  in  our  pastors  in  presenting 
the  claims  of  the  ministry  upon  the  Church.  The  opinion  prac- 
tically obtains  that  the  Church  has  little  to  do  in  the  matter 
apart  from  authorizing  those  who  apply,  or  in  educating  such 
as  make  up  their  minds  to  the  belief  that  they  are  called.  The 
view  was  expressed  that  the  current  notion  on  this  subject  did 
not  operate  healthfully  ;  that  it  kept  out  of  the  ministry  some 
of  our  best  young  men ;  that  almost  all  who  enter  are  depen- 
dent upon  the  Church  for  help.  Whilst  not  saying  aught 
against  beneficiary  education,  there  is  certainly  something  ab- 
normal in  the  facts  as  they  present  themselves,  viz.,  that  so  very, 
very  {q^n  of  our  ministers  come  out  of  our  wealthier  families. 
It  is  wresting  the  word  of  God  to  quote  here  this,  "not  many 
mighty,  etc.,  are  called,"  for  there  is  no  Scripture  to  warrant 
the  conclusion  that  God  has  excluded  from  the  privilege  and 
honor  of  preaching  the  Gospel  those  who  are  able  to  educate 
themselves. 

CONCLUDING  REMARKS. 

The  ministerial  statistics  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  given 
above,  exhibit  in  an  unmistakable  manner,  that  the  practical 
tendency  of  the  prevalent  theory  is,  to  decrease  the  number  of 
the  candidates  for  the  ministry,  until  the  supply  gives  out  and 
famine  prevails.  That  in  such  a  Church,  with  its  intelligence, 
wealth,  institutions,  and  educative  funds,  the  number  of  candi- 
dates for  the  ministry  could  run  down  to  two,  in  the  Presbytery 
of  Brooklyn  with  twelve  thousand  communicants,  to  one  in  the 
Synod  of  Michigan  with  ten  thousand,  and  to  zero  in  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Erie  with  eight  thousand,  proves  beyond  question, 
that  a  theory  under  whose  practical  operation  such  results  are 
possible,  cannot  be  the  true  one,  and  must  prove  disastrous  to 
the  Church.  And  this  exhibit  becomes  the  more  remarkable, 
when  it  is  considered,  that  this  threatened  famine  in  the  minis- 
try, has  occurred  in  the  largest,  best  equipped  and  most  influ- 
ential Calvinistic  denomination  in  this  country.  And  as,  accord- 
ing to  the  Calvinistic  doctrine  of  election  and  grace,  God  not 
only  determines  the  individual  number  of  the  elect,  but  also  the 


56  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

means  by  which  they  are  effectually  called  and  persevere  unto 
salvation,  and  as  the  calling  of  an  adequate  number  of  ministers 
to  preach  the  Gospel,  through  which  every  one  of  the  elect  must 
be  brought  to  a  saving  knowledge  of  the  truth,  is  indispensable, 
it  would  seem  that  God  has  either  overlooked  the  pastoral 
wants  of  his  elect  people,  by  calling  so  few  ministers  among 
them  through  the  direct  influence  of  the  Spirit,  or' else  it  must 
be  concluded,  either  that  those  called  did  not  understand  the 
import  of  the  impulse  of  the  Spirit,  or  that,  understanding  it, 
they  all  with  one  consent  made  excuses,  and  refused  to  obey  it. 

The  particularity  of  the  prevalent  theory  accords,  indeed,  wi-th 
the  Calvinistic  doctrine  of  a  limited  atonement  and  election,  ac- 
cording to  which  the  number  of  the  redeemed  and  elect  is  com- 
paratively so  small,  that  a  correspondingly  small  number  of 
ministers  is  needed  to  preach  to  them  the  Gospel,  and  hence  the 
Spirit,  who  limits  his  effectual  call  to  the  few  elect,  confines  his 
direct  call  to  the  ministry  to  the  very  small  number  predesti- 
nated as  the  elect  ministers  of  Christ.  But  it  cannot  be  made 
to  harmonize  with  the  universality  of  the  Lutheran  doctrine  of 
the  atonement,  of  the  call  of  the  Gospel,  of  the  Spirit,  and  of  the 
priesthood  of  all  believers,  according  to  which,  the  Church  is 
bound  to  call  forth  and  send  out  an  adequate  number  of  minis- 
ters to  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature,  in  order  that,  ac- 
cording to  the  universal  purpose  of  God's  free  grace,  none  should 
perish,  but  that  all  should  be  brought  to  repentance  and  salva- 
tion. 

The  gradual  diminution  of  the  number  of  the  ministry  in  the 
Presbyterian  and  other  Puritanic  denominations,  in  America, 
while  it  may  well  startle  them,  is  not,  when  duly  considered,  at 
all  strange.  It  is  the  legitimate  outgrowth  of  the  prevalent 
theory  of  a  call  to  the  ministry.  In  the  natural  world  no  end 
can  be  rationally  expected  and  attained,  unless  the  adopted 
means  for  its  accomplishment  are  employed  in  a  timely  and 
propitious  manner.  And  the  same  law  has  been  establislied  in 
the  supernatural  world.  Conviction  of  sin,  as  an  end,  cannot 
be  expected  on  the  part  of  the  Spirit,  the  reprover  of  sin,  unless 
a  knowledge  of  the  truth  concerning  the  law,  as  the  means  of 
the  Spirit,  be  made  known  by  the  Church.     Faith  in  Christ,  as 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  67 

an  end,  cannot  be  reasonably  expected,  unless  the  truths  con- 
cerning the  person  and  work  of  Christ,  as  the  revealed  instru- 
mentality of  the  Spirit,  be  proclaimed  by  the  Church.  Should 
the  Church  fall  into  the  error,  that  the  Spirit  would  reprove  the 
world  of  sin,  and  work  faith  in  Christ  directly,  without  the  writ- 
ten word,  which  he  moved  the  holy  men  of  God  to  reveal  foj 
this  very  purpose,  and  consequently  neglect  to  promulgate  it, 
their  hopes  would  be  disappointed,  and  sinners  remain  in  their 
ignorance  and  unbelief  And  this  is  just  the  folly  and  incon- 
sistency into  which  these  churches  have  fallen,  in  adopting  and 
relying  upon  the  prevalent  theoi*^  for  an  adequate  supply  of 
able  and  successful  ministers,  through  the  direct  call  of  the 
Spirit,  instead  of  his  indirect  call,  through  the  dissemination 
and  practical  development  by  the  Church  of  the  truths  revealed 
in  the  Scriptures,  and  inspired  by  the  Spirit,  concerning  the 
qualifications  which  constitute  the  infallible  mark  of  his  call  to 
the  ministry. 

The  family  is  the  divinely  appointed  nursery  of  the  ministry. 
Those  called  to  it  are  entrusted  to  parents  for  their  education, 
religious  training,  and  judicious  direction  in  matters  pertaining 
to  their  vocation  and  course  of  life.  But  how  lamentably  is  all 
this  overlooked  in  most  of  our  families  !  Many  parents  neglect 
the  education  of  their  children,  or  trust  their  religious  instruc- 
tion to  others,  fail  to  impress  upon  their  minds  the  true  object 
of  life,  refuse  to  dedicate  their  gifted  sons  to  the  ministry,  and 
instead  of  urging  upon  them  its  claims,  rather  prejudice  them 
against  it.  And  should  any  of  their  sons,  under  other  influ- 
•ences,  resolve  tAfttudy  for  the  ministry,  in  spite  of  such  inex- 
cusable indifference,  fathers  not  unfrequently  refuse  to  support 
them  and  even  mothers  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  their  entreaties  for 
help.  And  while  they  thus  withhold  their  able  bodied,  strong 
minded  sons  from  the  service  of  the  Lord  who  made  and  bought 
them  with  his  blood,  should  one  of  them  be  possessed  of  a  fee- 
ble constitution  and  a  weak  mind,  they  prevail  upon  him  to 
choose  the  ministry,  as  an  easy  way  of  making  a  living. 

In  the  patriarchal  age,  the  first  born  son,  in  every  family,  was 
set  apart  as  the  priest  of  the  household,  and  in  apostolic  times, 
it  was   believed  that  sons  of  some  families  were  called  to  the 


68  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

ministry  in  every  Christian  congregation,  but  under  the  pre- 
vailing theory  of  a  call  to  the  ministry,  it  occurs  that,  not  only 
in  the  great  majority  of  families,  but  in  scores  of  congregations, 
yea,  in  whole  synods,  not  a  single  candidate  for  the  ministry  is 
brought  out. 

,  The  primitive  churches  embraced  the  true  theory  of  a  call  to 
the  ministry.  Accordingly  they  believed,  that  an  adequate 
number  of  men  was  called  not  only  to  supply  each  congrega- 
tion with  one  or  more  pastors,  but  also  to  provide  missionaries 
to  go  forth,  organize  and  supply  other  congregations.  Under 
this  procedure,  inaugurated  "by  Christ  and  his  apostles,  Christi- 
anity was  rapidly  made  "known  through  Palestine,  Asia  Minor, 
Greece  and  Rome,  and  but  for  a  departure  from  it,  would  long 
ago  have  encompassed  the  habitable  globe.  Under  the  oppo- 
site theory,  it  is  believed,  that  in  scores  of  congregations  con- 
taining many  hundreds  of  talented  and  pious  young  men,  only 
here  and  there  one,  is  called  to  the  ministry,  and  it  is  regarded 
neither  as  a  reproach  nor  a  calamity,  that  large  and  wealthy 
congregations  should  send  forth  no  candidates  for  the  ministry, 
during  ten,  twenty,  fifty,  years,  yea,  during  their  entire  history. 

Were  but  the  lowest  number,  namely  two,  regarded  as  called 
by  the  apostles  who  ordained  "elders,"  in  each  of  the  primitive 
churches,  it  would  give  the  General  Synod  with  its  thirteen 
hundred  and  fifty  congregations  twenty-seven  hundred  candi- 
dates for  the  ministry;  and  the  Lutheran  Church  in  this  coun- 
try with  its  six  thousand,  three  hundred  churches,  twelve  thou- 
sand six  hundred  young  men  called  to  the  ministry.  It  would 
revolutionize  its  aggressive  character,  enable  it  to  supply  all  its 
destitution  at  home  and  take  its  appropriate  position  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  work  of  converting  the  world. 

Parents  on  presenting  their  children  to  God  obligate  them- 
selves to  bring  them  up  in  the  faitJi  in  which  they  were  bap- 
tized, in  other  words,  they  solemnly  covenanted  with  God  to 
give  them  a  Christian  education.  The  nece.ssity  and  importance 
of  establishing  parochial  schools  by  Christian  congregations, 
and  the  duty  of  parents  to  see  to  it  that  their  children  receive  a 
thorough  religious  training  in  them,  are  both  involved  in  In- 
fant Baptism.     In  Europe  full  provision  is  made  in  this  respect. 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  6g^ 

and  the  parochial  school  was  brought  by  our  fathers  to  America, 
and  their  establishment  was  enjoined  by  constitutional  provision 
upon  every  Lutheran  congregation.  A  school-house  became  a 
necessary  appendage  to  every  church.  The  Scandinavian  and 
the  Germans,  as  we  have  seen,  encourage  their  congregations 
to  establish  and  support  parochial  schools.  The  English  Lu- 
theran churches,  and  a  goodly  number  of  the  Pennsylvania  Ger-  ' 
man  Lutheran  congregations,  have  given  up  the  parochial,  and 
availed  themselves  of  the  common  schools,  as  their  substitute. 
But  the  best  of  these  schools,  in  which  the  Bible  is  still  read, 
the  Lord's  Prayer  repeated,  and  ^iristian  hymns  sung,  are  so 
deficient  in  positive  religious  instructions,  that  they  cannot  pos- 
sibly give  a  child  even  a  general  religious  training,  and  those 
schools  from  which  the  Bible  has  been  excluded  cannot  be 
styled  Christian  in  any  proper  sense.  The  inconsistency  of  the 
Church,  in  turning  her  baptized  children  over  to  the  State, 
which  can  give  little  more  than  a  secular  education,  instead  of 
providing  religious  schools  herself,  and  giving  them  a  positively 
Christian  education,  must  be  apparent  to  all.  And  the  superfi- 
cial notion,  that  our  Sunday-schools  constitute  an  adequate  sub- 
stitute for  the  common  school,  and  that  scarce  an  hour's  reli- 
gious instruction  on  Sunday  can  make  up  for  its  neglect  during 
all  its  school  hours  in  the  week,  is  proven  to  be  deceptive  by 
the  opinions  and  conduc^^  the  children  educated  in  these 
schools.  And  the  practical  effect  of  the  parochial  and  the  com- 
mon school  systems  on  the  number  and  character  of  our  min- 
istry, the  reader  will  see  by  a  comparison  of  the  statistics  fur- 
nished by  each  as  given  heretofore. 

The  pulpit  should  not  only  be  the  guardian,  but  the  efficient 
propagator  of  the  ministry.  Its  opportunities  and  advantages 
for  presenting,  at  proper  times  and  in  all  manner  of  forms,  the 
truths  concerning  the  call,  character,  service  and  blessed  results 
of  the  work  of  the  ministry,  and  of  urging  its  claims  upon  young 
men,  and  its  due  appreciation  upon  all  church  members  are  so 
numerous  and  great,  that  the  expectation  would  naturally  be 
cherished,  that  they  would  do  full  justice  to  their  own  office. 
But  under  the  demoralizing  influence  of  the  prevalent  theory  of.    , 


JO  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

a  call  to  the  ministry,  its  incumbents  fold  their  hands  and  wait 
for  the  Spirit  to  give  the  call,  instead  of  looking  out  for  the 
marks  of  the  call,  in  the  talents  and  graces  conferred,  and  of 
making  intelligent  efforts  to  convince  the  young  men  possess- 
ing them  that  they  are  called,  and  ought  to  devote  themselves 
to  the  ministry.  And  we  question  whether  one  of  our  minis- 
ters in  fifty  has  ever  preached  on  the  call  to  the  ministry,  and 
urged  its  claims  from  the  Lutheran  standpoint. 

The  repeated  and  various  forms  in  which  the  religious  press 
is  adapted  to  present  the  Church  and  her  service,  the  min- 
istry and  its  claims,  ChristSn  nurture  in  the  family,  religious 
training  in  the  school,  'the  value  of  a  sanctified  literature, 
and  the  achievements  made  in  the  mission  field  of  the  world, 
render  it  the  most  powerful  agency,  and  efficient  assistant  to 
parents,  teachers,  church  officers  and  pastors,  in  disseminating 
religious  intelligence,  calculated  to  awaken  attention  to  the  office 
of  the  ministry,  to  exhibit  its  true  characteristics,  to  incite  efforts 
on  its  behalf,  and  to  induce  many  young  men  to  choose  it  as  their 
profession  for  life.  But  so  illiterate  and  penurious  are  many 
of  our  church  members,  that  they  can  neither  appreciate  the 
character,  nor  estimate  the  value  of  a  first-class  church  paper  to 
themselves  and  their  households,  and  as  a  consequence  not  more 
than  one  family  out  of  four  or  five,  and  not  more  than  one  mem- 
ber in  fifteen  or  twenty,  can  be  induced  to  take  the  Observer. 
In  these  families  the  door  is  barred  to  all  religious  intelligence, 
and  as  the  parents  know  little  or  nothing  about  the  Church  and 
her  work,  they  take  little  or  no  interest  in  it,  and  as  the  sons 
read  nothing  about  the  ministry,  and  hear  nothing  but  com- 
plaining and  disparaging  criticisms  of  their  pastor,  they  lose 
all  respect  for  the  office  and  never  entertain  even  a  thought, 
tnat  the  talents  and  graces  conferred  upon  them,  would  enable 
them  to  render  God  service  in  the  ministry  and  that  it  is  their 
duty  to  prepare  for  and  prosecute  it  as  their  life  work. 

That  God  has  not  discriminated  in  favor  of  the  sons  of  the 
wealthy,  to  the  disparagement  of  those  of  the  poor,  in  confer- 
ring constitutional  and  gracious  endowments,  and  that  he  has, 
*    .consequently,  called  many  poor  as  well  as  rich  young  men  into 
the  ministry,  needs  no  proof     That  all  such  require  both  liter- 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  7 1 

ary  and  theological  culture  for  the  successful  prosecution  of  its 
work  is  equally  apparent.  The  necessity  of  providing  the 
means  for  the  education  of  indigent,  talented,  and  pious  young 
men,  becomes  consequently,  manifest,  and  the  duty  of  contribut- 
ing to  this  cause  to  such  a  degree  that  no  worthy  candidate 
possessing  the  evident  marks  of  God's  call  imprinted  upon  his 
intellectual,  physical  and  moral  constitution  need  be  rejected. 

Notwithstanding  this,  the  contributions  of  the  churches  have 
been  for  many  years  inadequate  to  educate  the  acceptable  can- 
didates presenting  themselves,  under  the  operation  of  the  preva- 
lent theory  of  a  call  to  the  ministrj^,  to  say  nothing  of  the  scores 
and  hundreds  of  young  men,  endowed  with  the  necessary  quali- 
fications, who  might  have  been  brought  out  by  proper  eflbrts, 
and  educated  for  the  ministry,  according  to  the  true  theory,  if 
the  means  had  been  provided.  But  so  large  has  been  the  num- 
ber of  beneficiaries,  who  proved  failures,  on  account  of  their  im- 
proprieties in  conduct  as  students,  deficiency  of  intellect,  blem- 
ishes of  character,  slowness  of  speech,  and  lack  of  common 
sense,  as  to  bring  the  whole  system  into  disrepute,  in  spite  of 
the  large  numbers,  educated  by  the  Church,  who  have  proven 
themselves  worthy  and  successful  ministers  of  Christ.  In  the 
discussion  of  the  subject,  thus  called  forth,  some  have  suggested 
that  the  Church  should  provide  for  the  education  of  large  num- 
bers of  her  young  men,  and  then  select  those  possessed  of  the 
requisite  abilities,  and  endeavor  to  convince  them  of  their  call 
to  the  ministry.  Others  have  maintained,  that  the  temptations 
held  out  to  young  men  to  choose  the  ministry  as  a  means  of 
obtaining  an  education  and  bettering  their  chances  for  life,  are 
so  strong  and  the  number  of  tliose  who  failed  to  refund  the 
money  advanced  them  for  their  education,  after  they  had  be- 
come able  to  do  it,  so  great,  that  this  plan  had  better  be  aban- 
doned as  found  wanting. 

Two  years  ago,  the  Pennsylvania  Synod  abandoned  the  sys- 
tem 'of  beneficiary  education,  as  such,  and  now  only  advances 
money  to  such  as  need  and  apply  for  assistance,  taking  their 
notes,  without  interest,  and  relying  upon  their  honor  to  refund 
the  sums  loaned,  after  they  enter  the  ministry.  The  result, 
thus  far,   has  been,   that   the   number  of  applicants   has   been' 


72  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

greatly  reduced,  an  illustration  of  which  is  found  in  the  five  can- 
didates of  the  Freshman  class  of  Muhlenberg  College,  not  one 
of  whom  has  applied  for  aid  and  all  of  whom  support  them- 
selves. But  so  long  as  the  Church  fails  to  select  her  candidates, 
according  to  the  marks  of  a  call  pointed  out  by  the  Scriptures, 
and  waits  until  those  claiming  to  have  received  a  direct  call 
from  the  Spirit,  offer  themselves,  these  failures  will  be  repeated, 
in  spite  of  any  other  expedients  that  may  be  adopted,  arid  the 
discrepancy  between  the  number  of  the  laborers  and  the  extent 
of  the  harvest  continue. 

Self-protection  has  compelled  the  churches,  in  a  measure,  at 
least,  to  discredit  the  reliability  of  the  direct  call,  and  by  sub- 
jecting all  applicants  for  aid,  to  a  preparatory  course  of  train- 
ing at  their  own  expense,  adequate  to  fit  them  for  College,  and 
without  which,  as  a  practical  test,  they  cannot  be  received  on 
the  funds  of  the  synod,  the  result  of  which  has  been,  that  the 
number  of  applicants  has  been  considerably  reduced.  For  ex- 
ample, in  the  East  Pennsylvania  Synod,  with  13,616  communi- 
cants, there  was  but  one  candidate  for  the  ministry,  who  applied 
for  assistance.  There  was,  consequently  a  balance  of  more  than 
$2,200  in  the  beneficiary  treasury,  awaiting  applicants,  and  no 
assessment  was,  accordingly  made  for  beneficiary  education  in 
1883-4.  And  when  it  is  recollected  that  this  synod  includes 
the  cities  of  Philadelphia,  Lancaster,  Harrisburg,  Pottsville, 
Reading,  Allentown,  and  Easton,  the  outlook  for  the  supply 
of  ministers  is  not  reassuring.  And  although  the  above  require- 
ment was  a  step  in  the  right  direction,  the  system  cannot  be  re- 
lieved of  all  defects,  until  the  true  theory  of  a  call  to  the  min- 
istry be  restored,  and  the  Church  select  her  candidates,  instead 
of  accepting  those  who  offer  themselves,  footing  the  bills,  and 
taking  all  the  risk. 

The  beneficiary  system,  in  its  practical  results,  has  not  only 
made  itself  liable  to  objections  such  as  have  just  been  referred 
to,  but  it  has  become  the  occasion  of  a  wide  spread  impression 
that  the  Church  must  get  her  candidates  for  the  ministry  from 
the  families  of  the  poor  and  educate  them  at  her  expense,  while 
the  majority  of  families  of  the  wealthy  refuse,  on  this  account, 
to  induce  their  talented  and  pious  sons  to  devote  themselves 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  73 

to  the  ministry,  and  educate  them  rather  for  any  other  profes- 
sion. In  corroboration  of  these  statements,  we  present  the  fol- 
lowing statistics,  showing  what  proportion  of  the  students  in 
our  theological,  and  of  the  candidates  in  our  literary  institu- 
tions, come  from  our  wealthy  families  and  support  themselves, 
and  what  proportion  are  drawn  from  the  families  of  the  poor, 
and  are  supported  by  the  Church. 

Ten  years  ago,  the  startling  fact  was  stated  to  us  by  Dr.  J.  A. 
Brown,  that  there  was  not  a  single  theological  student  in  the 
seminary  at  Gettysburg,  who  was  supported  by  his  parents  or 
friends,  and  that  all  were  beneficiaries.  It  is  matter  of  gratifica- 
tion that  a  marked  improvement  has  taken  place  in  this  respect 
since  that  time.  Of  the  37  theological  students  now  at  Gettys- 
burg, 20  are  supported  by  their  parents,  and  17  are  benefici- 
aries. Of  49  candidates  for  the  ministry  in  Pennsylvania  College, 
25  are  beneficiaries.  Of  13  theological  students  at  the  Mission- 
ary Institute,  7  are  self-supported,  and  6  receive  aid  from  the 
churches.  Of  15  candidates  in  the  classical  department  lO  sup- 
port themselves  and  5  are  beneficiaries.  Of  7  students  in  the 
tlieological  department  of  Wittenberg  College,  3  support  them- 
selves and  4  are  beneficiaries,  and  of  30  candidates  in  the  col- 
lege 1 5  are  self-supported,  and  1 5  are  beneficiaries.  In  Carthage 
College  of  the  5  candidates  for  the  ministry,  2  are  self-supported 
and  3  are  beneficiaries.  In  the  German  Theological  Seminary 
at  Chicago,  7  students  are  reported,  all  of  whom  receive  assis- 
tance from  the  Church.  At  Hartvvick  Seminary,  of  12  candi- 
dates for  the  ministry,  one-half  are  supposed  to  be  self-support- 
ing and  one-half  beneficiaries.  [Estimated.]  Of  52  theological 
students  in  the  Philadelphia  Seminary,  32  are  self-supported, 
and  20  are  sustained  by  different  synods.  Of  43  candidates  in 
Muhlenberg  College,  23  are  supported  by  themselves,  and  about 
20  by  the  synods.  In  Thiel  College,  out  of  35  candidates  for 
the  ministry,  23  are  self-supporting,  and  12  beneficiaries.  In 
Augustana  Seminary,  at  Rock  Island,  there  are  36  theological 
students,  and  in  the  college  about  50  candidates,  all  of  whom 
are  supported  by  the  churches,  but  pay  their  own  tuition.  Of 
10  theological  students  in  the  Seminary  at  Salem,  Va.,  but  2  are 
self-supported  and  8  are  beneficiaries.     Of  13  candidates  for  the 


74  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

ministry  in  Roanoke  College,  4  are  self-supported,  and  9  receive 
aid  from  the  Church  and  the  college.  In  Newberry  College,  S. 
C,  there  are  8  candidates,  5  of  whom  are  self-supported,  and  3 
are  beneficiaries.  Of  59  theological  students  in  the  Mendota 
Seminary,  and  17  candidates  for  the  ministry  in  the  Gymnasium 
of  the  German  Synod  of  Iowa,  hardly  any  are  supported  by 
their  parents,  and  nearly  all  are  sustained  by  the  churches.  Of 
39  students  in  the  Seminary  at  Columbus,  O.,  13  are  self-sup- 
ported, and  26  are  beneficiaries,  and  of  45  candidates  for  the 
ministry  in  Capital  University,  17  are  self-supported,  and  31  are 
assisted  by  the  Synod  of  Ohio.  Of  105  theological  students  in 
the  Concordia  Seminary,  at  St.  Louis,  about  two-thirds,  or  70, 
are  self-supported,  and  one-third,  or  35,  assisted  by  the  churches, 
and  of  184  theological  students  in  the  Pro-Seminary  at  Spring- 
field, 111.,  about  two-thirds  or  192  support  themselves,  and  one- 
third  or  97  are  supported  by  the  churches,  and  of  200  candi- 
dates for  the  ministry  in  the  Gymnasium  at  Fort  Wayne,  and 
114  in  the  Pro-Gymnasia  about  one-half,  or  157  are  self-sup- 
ported, and  the  other  half,  or  157,  are  supported  by  congrega- 
tions, and  the  general  beneficiary  fund.  Total,  349  who  educate 
themselves,  and  254  who  are  educated  by  the  Missouri  Synod. 
The  following  summary  exhibits  the  proportion  of  the  theo- 
logical students  in  the  seminaries,  and  the  candidates  for  the 
ministry  in  the  colleges  who  are  supported  by  their  parents  and 
those  who  are  sustained  by  the  Church  in  the  several  ecclesi- 
astical bodies  mentioned  above.  In  the  institutions  of  the  Gen- 
eral Synod  (North)  of  173,  87  are  self-supporting,  and  86  are  ben- 
eficiaries. In  those  of  the  General  Council — not  including  the 
Swedish  Augustana  Synod — of  120  students,  yd>  are  self-sup- 
porting, and  52  are  beneficiaries.  In  the  Swedish  Augustana 
Synod  there  are  85  theological  students  and  candidates  all  of 
whom  are  supported  by  the  churches — their  tuition  excepted. 
In  those  of  the  General  Synod  (South)  of  31  candidates  for  the 
ministry,  1 1  are  self-supported  and  20  are  beneficiaries.  In  those 
of  the  Joint  Synod  of  Ohio,  there  are  87  candidates  of  whom  30 
are  self-supported  and  57  beneficiaries.  In  those  of  the  German 
Synod  of  Iowa  there  are  76  candidates,  nearly  all  of  whom  are 
supported   by  the  churches.     And  of  603   candidates   for  the 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  75 

ministry  in  the  institutions  of  the  Missouri  Synod  349  support 
themselves  and  254  are  sustained  by  congregations  and  the 
general  beneficiary  treasury. 

Revivals  of  religion  have  marked  the  development  of  the 
Church  in  America.  They  consist  of  the  simultaneous  conver- 
sion of  many  persons,  under  the  appropriate  use  of  the  appointed 
means  of  grace.  And  although  unscriptural  methods  have  been 
resorted  to  in  promoting  them,  and  spurious  religious  excite- 
ments have  abounded,  genuine  revivals  constitute  the  promised 
seasons  of  refreshing  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  their 
fruits,  tried  by  the  tests  of  Scripture,  will  compare  favorably 
with  those  gathered  through  the  regular  preaching  of  the  word 
and  the  instructions  of  the  youth  in  the  catechetical  class.  The 
bearing  of  revivals  of  religion  cannot  therefore  be  overlooked 
in  the  discussion  of  our  subject. 

In  revivals  many  persons  are  converted  in  a  comparatively 
short  period  of  time,  a  due  proportion  of  whom  are  young  men. 
The  first  impulses  of  the  new  born  soul  are  characterized  by 
benevolence,  prompting  to  usefulness.  The  claims  of  the  min- 
istry are  frequently  presented,  at  such  times,  in  various  forms 
by  ministers  and  others,  and  the  question  of  highest  usefulness 
decided  by  many  in  its  favor. 

This  is  especially  the  case  in  college  revivals,  where  the  sub- 
jects are  all  young  men,  most  of  whom  have  not  yet  determined, 
in  the  light  of  conscience  and  the  word  of  God,  what  their  life- 
work  shall  be.  It  was  our  privilege  to  preach  series  of  dis- 
courses, five  times  to  the  students  of  Pennsylvania,  three  times 
to  those  of  Wittenberg,  and  once  to  those  of  Roanoke  College, 
in  which  about  three  hundred  young  men  turned  unto  the  Lord, 
more  than  one  hundred  of  whom  devoted  themselves  to  the  min- 
istry, and  the  majority  of  them  are  still  alive  and  doing  good 
service  in  the  cause  of  Christ.  The  examples  cited  by  Prof. 
Tyler  in  his  Prize  Essay  on  Prayer  for  Colleges,  prove  beyond 
all  cavil'the  importance  and  value  of  college  revivals,  in  replen- 
ishing the  ranks  of  the  ministry. 

Ministers,  as  spiritual  fathers  and  the  religious  teachers  of  the 
people,  render  them  the  most  useful  and  valuable  service,  and 
deserve  at  their  hands  the  highest  consideration.     Accordingly 


jd  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

the  Scriptures  enjoin  upon  all  the  members  of  the  Church  to 
esteem  their  pastors  very  highly,  to  receive  "with  meekness  the 
ingrafted  word,"  to  submit  to  their  .rule  in  the  Lord,  to  cooper- 
ate with  them  in  every  good  word  and  work,  and  to  pray  for, 
and  to  render  them  a  just  and  adequate  support.  And  while 
the  performance  of  each  of  these  duties  will  add  something  to 
the  comfort  and  usefulness  of  a  pastor,  the  combined  result  of 
obeying  them  all  will  be  to  invest  the  ministerial  ofifice  with 
its  legitimate  functions,  rights  and  emoluments,  and  exhibit  it 
in  its  true  and  scriptural  light.  Just  in  proportion  as  this  is 
done,  will  the  office  of  the  ministry  appear  desirable  and  attrac- 
tive to  young  men,  and  just  in  proportion  as  the  ministry  is  re- 
garded with  disrespect,  its  counsels  unheeded,  its  authority  de- 
spised, and  its  support  stinted,  will  the  office  appear  repulsive 
and  young  men  be  deterred  from  entering  it.  When  such  un- 
justifiable burdens  are  added  to  the  ordinary  privations  and 
trials  of  the  ministry,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  office 
must  go  begging,  and  that  the  great  majority  of  thoughtful 
young  men  can  without  compunction  of  conscience  disregard 
the  command  of  Christ :  "Son,  go  work  to  day  in  my  vineyard." 
And  as  the  prosperity  of  the  Church  depends  upon  the  number 
and  character  of  her  ministers,  their  proper  treatment  or  their 
cruel  neglect  become  important  factors  in  determining  the  meas- 
ure of  the  supply  and  the  extent  of  the  deficiency  in  the  ranks 
of  the  ministry.  And  a  proper  regard  for  or  disregard  of  the 
ministers  affects  God  himself,  who,  while  he  promises  to  call  an 
adequate  number  of  laborers  into  the  harvest,  on  condition,  in- 
volving the  proper  treatment  of  his  servants,  he  on  the  other 
hand  threatens  to  remove  the  candlesticks  from  the  churches 
that  refuse  to  hear,  honor  and  maintain  his  messengers,  as  the 
lights  of  the  world. 

The  bearing  of  the  inadequacy  of  ministerial  support,  upon 
the  supply  of  the  ministry,  is  so  direct  and  telling,  that  we  can- 
not forbear  calling  attention  to  it.  God  made  ample  provision 
for  the  maintainance  of  the  priests  and  the  levites,  and  Christ  de- 
clared that  the  laborer  was  worthy  of  his  hire,  and  that  those 
who  preach  the  Gospel  should  live  from  the  Gospel.  And  yet, 
so  little  are  the  principle  and  command  of  Christ  heeded  by  the 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  yj 

churches,  that  the  great  majority  of  ministers  obtain  an  inade- 
quate support,  and  but  few  receive  such  salaries  as  to  be  able  to 
provide  for  themselves  and  families  during  their  active  service, 
as  well  as  when  disabled  by  sickness  and  the  infirmities  of  age. 
And  the  effect  of  this  injustice,  and  consequent  want  and  suffer- 
ing, upon  parents  and  their  gifted  sons  is  such,  that  fathers  are 
tempted  to  dissuade  their  sons  from  choosing,  and  the  sons  from 
considering  the  claims  of  the  ministry. 

The  following  extract  from  the  letter  of  Dr.  John  Hall,  called 
out  by  the  threatened  famine  of  the  ministry  in  the  Presbyter- 
ian Church,  is  strikingly  in  point  here  : 

"We  are  a  people  growing  in  wealth  more  rapidly  than  any 
other.  We  have  our  largest  church  served  by  a  ministry  with 
an  average  income  of  about  ^500  a  year.  We  have  thrown 
away  the  principle  and  the  burdens  of  an  "establishment,"  and 
we  have  a  clergy  in  whose  straits  and  privations  the  writer  of 
touching  columns  finds  the  readiest  material  for  rousing  cheap 
sympathy. 

"We  in  the  religious  world  are  lamenting — I  had  almost  said 
whining — over  a  deficient  supply  of  candidates  for  the  ministry, 
and  we  are  making  things  artificially  and  unhealthily  easy  for 
such  as  come  ;  and  side  by  side  with  our  joy  over  ten  millions 
of  communicants  is  the  pitiful  tale  of  domestic  distress  and 
pinching  poverty  in  the  homes  of  those  who  minister  to  these 
millions. 

We  invite  the  sons  of  such  men  as  can  educate  their  boys  at 
their  own  cost,  as  physicians,  lawyers,  artists,  engineers,  some- 
times sending  them  to  Europe  for  greater  advantages — we  in- 
vite them  to  the  ministry,  practically  telling  them  in  our  litera- 
ture and  our  life  that  we  shall  reckon  closely  the  minimum  on 
which  they  can  live,  and  "retire"  them  without  pension  when 
they  have  passed  their  prime.  And  we  wonder  that  they  do 
not  come  to  our  seminaries.  We  may  tell  them,  indeed,  that 
the  disciple  has  to  take  up  his  cross  ;  but  the  average  American 
youth  has  sense  enough  to  know  that  ministers  are  not  specially 
singled  out  for  the  cross ;  that  it  is  for  all ;  and  that  it  is  possi- 
ble to  serve  God  faithfully  without  being  in  the  ministry.     And 


J%  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

SO  they  stay  away,  and  we  have  to  adopt  exceptional  methods 
to  draw  good  and  educated  men  into  this  profession." 

Of  the  same  tenor  are  the  following  remarks  made  by  Dr. 
Thomas  Guthrie  ; 

"The  calamity  which  I  stand  in  dread  of,  and  which  is  next  to 
the  withdrawal  of  the  divine  blessing,  the  greatest  a  church  can 
suffer,  is  that  the  rising  talent,  genius,  and  energy  of  our  coun- 
try may  leave  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel  for  other  professions, 
'A  scandalous  maintenance,'  Matthew  Henry  says,  'makes  a 
scandalous  ministry.'  And  I  will  give  you  another  equally 
true.  'The  poverty  of  the  parsonage  will  develop  itself  in  the 
poverty  of  the  pulpit.'  I  have  no  doubt  about  it.  Genteel 
poverty,  to  which  some  ministers  are  doomed,  is  one  of  the 
great  evils  under  the  sun.  To  place  a  man  in  circumstances 
where  he  is  expected  to  be  generous  and  hospitable,  to  open 
his  hand  as  wide  as  his  heart  to  the  poor,  to  give  his  family 
good  education,  to  bring  them  up  in  what  is  called  genteel  life, 
and  to  deny  him  the  means  of  doing  so  is  enough,  but  for  the 
hope  of  heaven,  to  embitter  existence. 

"In  the  dread  of  debt,  in  many  daily  mortifications,  in  harrass- 
ing  fears  what  will  become  of  his  wife  and  children  when  his 
head  lies  in  the  grave,  a  man  of  cultivated  mind  and  delicate 
sensibilities  has  trials  to  bear  more  painful  than  the  privations  of 
the  poor.  It  is  a  bitter  cup,  and  my  heart  bleeds  for  brethren 
who  have  never  told  their  sorrows,  concealing  under  their  cloak 
the  fox  that  gnaws  at  their  vitals." 

In  natural  husbandry,  the  forces  of  nature  must  be  brought 
into  contact  with  the  germ  or  life  force  in  order  to  secure  ger- 
mination, growth  and  fructification.  And  analogy  requires  the 
same  procedure  in  spiritual  husbandry.  In  order  that  the 
Spirit  may  call  a  soul  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  through  a  su- 
pernatural begetment  and  spiritual  birth,  it  becomes  indispen- 
sable that  the  truth,  as  the  incorruptible  seed  of  regeneration  be 
brought,  by  the  Church,  in  contact  with  the  mind,  heart,  con- 
science and  will  in  the  formation  of  a  new  creature  in  Christ 
Jesus.  For  the  Church  to  expect  such  results,  by  the  direct 
inward  illumination  of  the  Spirit,  without  the  written  word,  as 
the  enthusiasts  maintain,  would  prove  a  delusion  and  a  snare 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  79 

and  fill  her  folds  with  hypocrites  and  fanatics.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  number  and  character  of  the  passages,  pertaining  to 
the  call,  qualifications  and  work  of  the  ministry,  contained  in  the 
Scriptures,  their  adaptation  so  to  impress  the  faculties  ot  the 
soul  as  to  develop  the  conviction  of  a  call  to  the  ministry,  and 
the  corresponding  practice  of  Christ  and  the  apostles  in  calling 
out  those  who  bore  the  marks  of  a  call,  and  setting  them  to 
work  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  the  Church  in  this  country,  un- 
der the  inflluence  of  the  prevalent  theory,  has  settled  down  into 
a  state  of  indifference  in  regard  to  the  call  to  and  supply  of  the 
ministry.  Scarcely  any  interest  is  taken  in  the  subject,  and 
little  or  no  sense  of  obligation  is  felt  by  any  one,  to  make  an 
intelligent  effort  to  impart  information  and  to  endeavor  to  con- 
vince any  talented  and  pious  young  man  of  his  call  to  the  min- 
istry. 

All  the  agencies  of  the  Church,  which  ought  to  be  brought 
into  requisition  in  bringing  the  truths  concerning  the  call  to  the 
ministry,  its  qualifications  and  work,  in  contact  with  the  minds 
and  hearts  of  young  men,  are  derelict  in  duty  and  greatly  at 
fault.  In  most  households  God  is  not  recognized  at  the  family 
altar,  and  the  claims  of  the  ministry  are  shut  out  from  the  con- 
sideration of  the  baptized  sons  of  the  Church.  In  the  con- 
gregation the  prayer  :  "Lord  send  forth  laborers  into  thy  har- 
vest," is  seldom  if  ever  heard  in  a  prayer  meeting  or  in  the 
pulpit ;  no  elder,  deacon  or  member  thinks  that  he  has  anything 
to  do  with  looking  out  for  the  marks  of  a  call  to  the  ministry 
in  young  men,  and  very  few  of  the  largest  and  wealthiest  con- 
gregations contribute  enough  money  to  sustain  regularly  even 
one  candidate  for  the  ministry.  The  Sunday-school  teacher  be- 
comes the  substitute  of  the  parents  in  imparting  religious  in- 
struction, and  the  Common  School  and  the  State  University 
take  the  place  of  the  parochial  school  and  the  Christian  Col- 
lege, in  the  education  of  the  sons  of  many  church  members,  and 
from  neither  do  they  ever  hear  a  word  about  the  office  of  the 
ministry,  and  their  obligations  in  regard  to  it.  '  In  the  pulpit, 
discourses  on  the  call  to  the  ministry  are  seldom,  and  in  many 
never  heard,  and  all  references  to  it  are  so  tinctured  with  mys- 
tical representations  about  the  call  of  the  Spirit,  that  no  Scrip- 


80  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

tural  impression  is  made  thereby,  either  on  parents,  young  men, 
church  officers  or  members.  And  the  church  paper,  however 
highly  it  might  be  freighted  with  instruction  on  the  call  to  and 
work  of  the  ministry  is  voluntarily  shut  out  of  tens  of  thousands 
of  the  homes  of  professed  church  members,  and  whose  sons 
never  receive  a  ray  of  light  on  this  great  subject.  And  while 
the  foregoing  presents  a  glance  at  the  negative  side  of  the  sub- 
ject, its  positive  side  must  not  be-overlooked.  Beneficiary  Edu- 
cation, by  perversion  from  its  true  design,  becomes  the  means 
of  drawing  an  undue  proportion  of  the  sons  of  poor  families  in- 
to the  ministry,  and  the  occasion  to  the  rich  to  withhold  an 
undue  proportion  of  their  sons  from  the  ministry,  so  that  not  one 
of  our  wealthy  and  cultured  families  in  a  hundred,  yea,  scarce 
one  in  a  thousand,  has  a  representative  in  the  ministry  of  the 
Church.  So  great  has  the  dread  of  spurious  revivals,  with  their 
unscriptural  methods  become,  that  no  prayers  are  offered  and 
intelligent  efforts  made  to  promote  genuine  ones,  and  thus 
these  prolific  sources  of  ministerial  supply  have  been  cut  off. 
And  so  inconsiderate  and  unkind  has  the  treatment  of  the  min- 
istry been  on  the  part  of  many  congregations,  so  inadequate 
the  salaries  paid  them,  and  so  onerous  the  trials  and  sorrows  to 
which  they  and  their  families  have  been  subjected,  that  the  min- 
isterial office,  high  and  noble  as  it  is,  has  been  divested  of  its 
true  attractions,  and  is  shunned  rather  than  chosen  by  many 
gifted  and  thoughtful  young  men.  In  a  word,  under  the  de- 
moralizing influence  of  the  prevalent  theory,  the  niinistry  re- 
ceives little  consideration  anywhere,  and  is  ruled  out  almost 
everywhere.  The  relative  merits  of  the  prevalent  and  true  the- 
ories of  a  call  to  the  ministry  are  not  thoroughly  discussed  in 
our  theological  seminaries,  and  our  ministers  are  sent  out,  either 
with  no  definite  views  on  the  subject,  or  with  mystical  and  un- 
Lutheran  proclivities.  The  professors  in  our  colleges  and  the 
teachers  in  our  classical  preparatory  schools,  who  possess  the 
best  opportunities  for  discovering  such  gifts  of  mind,  heart  and 
speech,  as  give  promise  of  adaptation  for,  and  indicate  a  call  to 
the  ministry,  do  not  avail  themselves  of  them,  and  students,  af- 
ter years  of  daily  intercourse,  pass  from  under  their  care,  with- 
out having  been  spoken  to  on  the  subject  of  the  ministry,  or  its 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  8  I 

claims  as  a  profession  for  life  urj^ed  upon  them.  And  education 
committees  have  given  so  much  weight  to  the  account  given 
them  by  applicants  for  aid,  of  the  time,  place,  circumstances  and 
manner  in  which  the  Holy  Spirit  called  them  to  the  ministry, 
that  they  accept  them  without  demanding  such  other  corrobor- 
ative evidences  as  the  Spirit  requires  those  to  furnish,  whom  he 
has  called,  according  to  his  own  testimony  given  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. And  so  much  veneration  have  they  for  this  mystic  call 
of  the  Spirit,  and  so  much  do  they  stand  in  dread  of  keeping 
one  of  God's  elect  out  of  the  ministry,  that  they  continue  appli- 
cants on  the  funds  from  year  to  year,  whose  deficiencies  of  tal- 
ents, grace  and  gifts  of  speech,  have  become  notorious  among 
their  class-mates  and  fellow-students,  if  not  to  their  teachers  in 
the  college  and  their  professors  in  the  seminary.  Furthermore, 
the  prevalent  theory  has  paralyzed  all  the  springs  of  intelligent 
effort  in  calling  out  the  elect  sons  of  God  into  the  ministry  of 
the  Church,  while  she  has  folded  her  hands,  and  watched  with 
complacent  inactivity  for  a  larger  increase  in  the  number  of 
ministers,  through  the  mystic  call  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The 
question  concerning  the  call  and  supply  of  the  ministry  has 
been  taken  out  of  the  department  of  the  origination  and  use  of 
adapted  means  for  the  attainment  of  spiritual  and  ecclesiastical 
ends,  and  removed  to  the  sphere  of  inspiration  and  of  mysti- 
cism, in  which  enthusiasts  are  engaged  in  endeavoring  to  dis- 
cover by  dreamy  introspection,  the  inner  call  to  the  ministry. 
It  ought  not,  therefore,  to  awaken  surprise,  that  so  few  of  the 
pious  and  gifted  young  men  of  the  Church  have  entered  the 
ministry,  but  rather  excite  wonder  that  so  many  have  devoted 
themselves  to  it ;  that  so  large  a  proportion  of  them  have  by 
their  ability,  fidelity  and  success,  given  full  proof  of  their  minis- 
try, and  received  the  divine  seal  of  the  legitimacy  of  their  call 
and  investiture  of  the  sacred  office. 

APPEAL  TO  THE  ELECT  YOUNG  MEN  OF  THE  CHUKCH. 

Redemption  presents  the  greatest  of  all  subjects,  the  Bible  is 
the  most  wonderful  revelation,  and  the  ministry  the  first  of  all 
professions.  Its  great  theme  is  "Christ  and  him  crucified."  Its 
special  work  the  moral  recovery  of  man.     Its  ultimate  end  the 


82  THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 

salvation  of  a  lost  world.  Its  Exemplar  was  Jesus  Christ.  It 
has  been  graced  by  prophets  and  apostles.  To  its  service  illus- 
trious men  "of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy,"  have  devoted 
their  lives.  In  its  prosecution  martyrs  have  died.  And  among 
its  supernatural  associates,  angelic  messengers  as  ministering 
spirits,  sent  forth  to  minister  to  the  heirs  of  salvation,  are  found. 

The  Church  is  "the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth,"  the  bearer 
of  the  redemption  powers,  designed  to  recover  to  holiness  and 
happiness  a  ruined  world.  The  Lutheran  Church  constitutes 
the  most  numerous  Protestant  branch.  Her  origin  marks  the 
greatest  era  of  modern  history,  and  her  ecclesiastical  achieve- 
ments stamp  her  with  renown.  Reorganized  after  the  model  of 
the  apostolic  and  primitive  Church,  her  distinguishing  charac- 
teristics doctrinal,  liturgical,  governmental  and  ceremonial,  place 
her  mid-way  between  ecclesiastical  extremes,  and,  in  their  com- 
■  bination  and  consistent  development,  constitutes  her  a  great  and 
glorious  Church.  And  the  service  to  which  she  calls  her  sons 
is,  therefore,  at  once,  the  most  interesting,  useful,  happifying 
and  ennobling,  and  the  field  of  labor  to  which  she  invites  them 
in  America,  is  wider  in  extent,  richer  in  material,  and  more 
promising  in  results,  than  that  opened  to  the  sons  of  any  other 
denomination  in  this  land.  God  by  creation  has  conferred  upon 
hundreds  and  thousands  of  the  young  men  in  the  Lutheran 
Church,  the  natural  talents,  by  Redemption,  the  spiritual  graces, 
and  by  Providence,  furnished  the  means  and  opportunity  to  pre- 
pare themselves  for  the  work  of  the  ministry.  The  considera- 
tions presented  to  them  in  this  article,  prove  that  the  question 
of  vocation  must  be  determined  by  highest  usefulness,  and  as 
the  ministry  stands  unrivaled  in  this  respect,  those  endowed 
with  the  necessary  qualifications,  bear  the  marks  of  the  call  to 
the  ministry,  and  are  morally  bound  to  devote  themselves  to  it. 
Upon  the  conscience  of  all  such,  we  lay,  with  mountain  weight, 
the  call  of  the  Lord  of  Glory  to  enter  the  great  harvest,  and  as- 
sist in  gathering  it  into  the  garner  of  heaven. 

Let  them  not  magnify  its  labors  and  trials,  nor  overestimate 
its  difficulties,  but  let  them  study  its  claims,  until,  with  Paul, 
they  are  constrained  to  cry  out,  "Necessity  is  laid  upon  me,  yea, 
woe  is  me  if  I  preach  not  the  Gospel."     Let  them  not  consult 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRV.  8^ 

with  flesh  and  blood,  but  respond  to  the  Master's  call,  prepare 
thoroughly  for  his  work,  prosecute  it  with  fidelity  and  perse- 
verance, bear  hardness  as  good  soldiers  of  the  cross,  and  they 
will  enjoy  the  approbation  of  conscience,  the  esteem  of  men,  and 
the  favor  of  God.  And,  finally,  after  a  triumphant  death,  they 
will  be  recognized  and  greeted,  at  the  general  resurrection,  as 
the  deliverers  of  those  whom  they  were  instrumental  in  bringing 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  ;  and  in  presenting  them  as  the 
trophies  of  their  ministerial  labors,  each  one  may  exultingly  ex-' 
claim :  "Here,  Lord,  am  I,  and  children  that  thou  hast  given  me," 
to  which  he  will  respond :  "Well  done,  good  and  faithful  ser- 
vant ;  thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  few  things,  I  will  make 
thee  ruler  over  many  things,  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy 
Lord."  "They  that  be  wise,  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of 
the  firmament ;  and  they  that  turn  many  to  righteousness  as 
the  stars  for  ever  and  ever." 


ERRATA. 

Page  lo  line  5,  for  ''prevailing"  read  "preaching." 

Page  24  line  5,  for  '^teaching"  read  "preaching" 

Page  24  line  13,  for  "that  in  the  word"  read  "the  preaching  of  the  word" 

Page  65  line  2,  for  t'culcable"  read  "culpable." 


MAKERS 

ITACeSE  •  NY 


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